Harry Potter and a dance with the devil
by IcyLady
Summary: Lord Voldemort acquires ancient scripts that he wants to use to call a powerful and absolutely loyal servant, but things go bloody. Has he made a deadly mistake? The game begins! / Alternate universe to both Harry Potter and Kuroshitsuji!
1. The circle of black magic

**Kuroshitsuji belongs to Yana Toboso, Harry Potter to JK Rowling.**

**This unlikely crossover idea, Cain Kruspe and the words are mine though so please don't take them.**

**This story has nothing to do with my previous KS/HP crossover (which I, nevertheless, recommend to you ;) )**

**Read and review!**

* * *

**Harry Potter and a dance with the devil**

**Chapter 1: The circle of black magic**

Lucius Malfoy was not a nice man by far, but even his conscience was starting to feel a bit uncomfortable after the "branding" of the boy that the Dark Lord has chosen. He did not question his Lord's choices, even when the hairs on his neck stood when he listened to the latest plan. But the Dark Lord chose him to command this plan and it was a prestigious job – everything that the Dark Lord considered important made for a prestigious job.

Snape hasn't been so happy when it was him, Lucius Malfoy, who was chosen for this task.

Still – the pain-filled screaming made him wake up, sweating, a couple of nights already. For an asthmatic kid, the boy sure had lungs to scream and Lucius was rather glad that he wasn't required to participate or even attend to the other "preparations". It was enough for him to know that Fenrir Greyback enjoyed the preparations of the children. He was also glad that only a few kids needed to be branded, as it was one procedure he needed to lead. The Dark Lord trusted only him with the ancient scripts.

All in all, Lucius was doing quite well for a person charged with torturing and, eventually, killing a bunch of innocent children. He consoled himself that most were Muggle anyway – hardly anything to be bothered with. There was only one heir to an old, powerful wizarding family.

Better him than my own son – he thought and shook his head to clear the troubling thoughts.

There was the added guilt coming from the fact that his wife, the beautiful Narcissa, was the best friend of the boy's aunt. The latter was in a poor shape ever since the fire that consumed the Phantomhive mansion, taking Earl Phantomhive and his fragile wife and the sister of his wife's friend, with it. The body of their son, the shy, little Ciel, was never found and Lucius knew that Angelina Durless clang to the hope of finding the boy alive. That hope was diminishing with each passing day that decreased the chances of a helpless child surviving Merlin knew where.

It was even worse that Narcissa started talking about Ciel as well, insisting that Lucius uses his influences in the Ministry to put more Aurors in the search for the boy. She didn't know that her husband knew perfectly well where the boy was kept and had no intention to have the boy found. At least not before Lucius got what he wanted from the boy.

In any case – everything would be over tonight – he thought as he pulled on his long, black cape with a deep hood and secured a white mask over his face. With firm and fast steps, he crossed the mansion, hoping that he wouldn't meet Narcissa or Angelina. The latter came to cry again because her father, the old Duke Durless, was weak and she was afraid that he'd die soon and leave her the sole heir to the name of Durless.

He smirked under the mask – Angelina would finally have to stop all her flirting and take a reasonable decision regarding marriage. She would have to choose wisely to not bring the Dark Lord's wrath upon her. If she only knew why the Phantomhives were murdered… Lucius supposed that the old Duke knew and it was that knowledge that was killing him slowly, eating him day by day. The knowledge that his unmarred left forearm was the reason of the death of her beloved daughter and the disappearance of his little treasure. Yes, Ciel Phantomhive would pay a terrible price for his grandfather's pride.

He swept out of the house and Disappearated to a small dead alley in London, right next to a disintegrating door. Checking that nobody was around, he opened the door and went down the stairs that awaited him on the other side. The stairs led him to another door, this time more beautiful and well kept, and the door opened into a large chamber, lit up by countless candles.

Most of the Deatheaters that the Dark Lord lent him to fulfil the task were already there, waiting with some impatience. The sacrificial table was prepared and scrubbed clean after their rehearsal the day before. Four, large candles were placed in the corners of the table, ensuring that it was the brightest spot of the room.

To the side, in a semi-shadow, three cages were placed. Two were filled with Muggle kids, while the middle one held only the Phantomhive boy. Lucius wordlessly cast a voice-changing charm on himself. He didn't need the boy identifying him in case he somehow managed to survive the night.

Ciel Phantomhive was staring at him with huge eyes and Lucius suddenly regretted pulling out his wand. He wasn't sure where the feeling came from – after all the boy wouldn't live to tell the tale. He smirked under the mask and motioned for his companions to form a circle around the table. They did so without the smallest hesitation. Whether they knew what exactly was going to happen he didn't know and he wasn't really interested. He was more worried about the look in little Phantomhive's eyes – could the child know what was going to happen?

Surely his father wouldn't let him in on knowledge like that. Right?

At his gesture, the first sacrificial lamb – a Muggle girl, was dragged out of her cage. She didn't struggle. She merely gasped when a sharp blade ended her life. Some other children screamed in terror and Lucius risked a glance at the cages.

Panic and terror now filled the eyes of all, including Phantomhive and, with some satisfaction, Lucius motioned for the next child to be brought.

And then – before he managed to start an incantation to call the ungodly beaing – a chill rushed through the room. A wave of whispers rolled along the circle of Deatheaters as the candles flickered.

In the corner, a shadow thickened – a shapeless flame with two, blood-red, shining eyes.

Lucius Malfoy stood frozen, watching how the shadow floated across the room, the red eyes looking at everybody in turns until they stopped. He followed the inhuman gaze and saw Ciel Phantomhive – a terrified boy who was nevertheless radiating desperate determination. Did that boy call a demon?

Shock blurred his vision and then there was an explosion of light and a familiar scream. Afterwards there was darkness.


	2. Mourning and miracles

**Kuroshitsuji belongs to Yana Toboso, Harry Potter to JK Rowling.**

**This unlikely crossover idea, Cain Kruspe and the words are mine though so please don't take them.**

**This story has nothing to do with my previous KS/HP crossover (which I, nevertheless, recommend to you ;) )**

**Read and review!**

* * *

**Chapter 2: Mourning and miracles**

The disappearance of a large group of wizards led to quite a stir in the community and the fact that most of them could be linked to You-Know-Who's old army was the source of some rather panicked gossip. Both because most were old Deatheaters and because not all were. A long period of mourning followed, when even those not personally affected were somewhat subdued by the general atmosphere of gloom.

Time passed and just when it felt like world would come back to its natural state two things happened, each considered a miracle by some.

In the morning of a beautiful day late in June, a small boy, holding almost desperately onto a black cat, appeared in the Durless Manor creating great commotion. Hardly recognizable with a black eye-patch and tattered clothing, the boy was in fact the heir of the Phantomhive family, whom everybody has long assumed dead.

'Oh, Ciel!' Lady Angelina Durless exclaimed, throwing herself at the boy and hugging him tightly. The cat meowed in protest and squeezed out from between the woman and the child, while the latter stood motionlessly.

'It's a true miracle Ciel!' she cried and then pulled away to inspect the boy. 'Where have you been? What happened to your eye?' she babbled as tears trailed down her cheeks. The boy seemed to be at loss of words.

'Is everything alright, Angelina?' a second woman came into the room where a servant has brought the boy and stopped in the doorway. 'Ciel!' she exclaimed upon recognizing the boy.

'Um… Good morning Madame Malfoy, good morning Aunt Ann,' the boy finally said with somewhat scared voice, which resulted in another embrace from his aunt and more tears on her part. Narcissa Malfoy, who was now spending all her time in the Durless Manor to avoid the cold and empty walls of hers, called her house elf and ordered her to prepare the young earl's room, a bath and a late breakfast. She then moved towards the other two and put a gentle hand on their shoulders, not missing the small flinch from the boy.

'Ciel – go take a bath and dress in something appropriate. When you're done meet us for breakfast in the small dining room,' she spoke softly and the two parted. The boy nodded at her, grabbed his cat and left, while she turned to her best friend.

'You should tell your father,' she pointed out as she wiped Angelina's tears with a delicate tissue. 'He'll be very happy to see his grandson.'

'Of course…' Angelina agreed and got up. She smiled softly at her friend and opened her mouth to say something, but then her face darkened and she turned away.

'Don't worry Ann. I'm also happy that he is back,' Narcissa spoke, as though reading Angelina's thoughts. 'I will have a revealing potion put into his juice though, in case it really is a spy and not Ciel,' she added quietly and stood her ground when Angelina turned to face her again, an expression full of outrage.

'You're right. I wouldn't have thought about it myself,' she finally admitted quietly. With everything that happened, they had to be extremely cautious not to let any spies in.

'Don't worry. I would have been the same if it was my nephew,' Narcissa assured her and they hugged briefly before each went their own way.

})i({

Ciel shooed away the servants and closed the door to his room with a wandless spell. He might have known only a few spells but his father has taught him to perform all of them without a wand and without the need to actually speak the spell. After all, there were situations when he simply wouldn't be able to afford the luxury of a wand or shouting out non-existing words.

The second spell was more complicated and the little lord almost swayed when it was done, but at least he was sure there was no devices to eavesdrop on him in the room and the bathroom. With the final spell to protect himself from being overheard accidentally, he looked at the cat.

'It is alright to change now, Sebastian,' he said in a cold, commanding voice and the cat became a black-clad butler.

'My Lord,' the butler bowed. 'I hope this is the welcome you have expected from your Aunt.' Ciel waved his hand dismissively and went to the bathroom, knowing that his butler will follow and insist on assisting his bath.

'I have not expected the tears, although of course they are understandable,' he said as the butler undid his eye-patch, revealing the right eye that held an intricate symbol on a violet background instead of a bright blue iris and a black pupil.

'I hope that the Lord's spell to mask the contract seal will work impeccably,' the butler said as he put away the eye-patch.

'We shall find out soon, although I'm fairly confident that it will,' the boy replied, thinking back to the day when he got the idea. They had been hiding in the Muggle areas for a while, wondering how to go about the revenge and whether it was safe to show up in the wizarding world. When he decided that he needed the knowledge of wizards, he realized that it would be nearly impossible to stop his aunt from wanting to look at his right eye and he came up with an idea to cast a spell that would create a permanent illusion. Everybody except for him and the butler, who knew the truth, would always see a horrible wound in place of his right eye. Sebastian has acquired him an advanced spell book and they went to a wizard's house so that Ciel casting a spell would not start the Ministry's alarm bells. The spell seemed to work – they tested it on some random Muggles who all saw a wound.

'Would my Lord like any particular clothes?' Sebastian asked, snapping Ciel out of his thoughts. The boy looked at him for a while, as though not comprehending the question.

'Choose something soft, Sebastian,' he commanded finally. 'Soft and comfortable.' They have been hiding for months and he needed to wear clothes that would blend in, which usually meant simple and cheap.

The butler let him to soak for a while as he went to choose the clothes and Ciel sank back into his thoughts that inevitably circled around the sole purpose of his current existence: revenge. Initially he didn't plan to "come back" and force himself to endure the presence of other people. The month of torture left him reluctant to be close to others and every touch still made him shrink back and remember the pain that he came to associate with people touching him. He realized of course, that it wasn't going to be like that but the instinct was too strong and the months of isolation – with Sebastian as his only company – did nothing to improve the situation.

However, he was unable to find the culprit behind the murders of his parents and Sebastian had problems to infiltrate the wizarding society on his own, so Ciel had to change the tactics. He made up a hopefully convincing story and went straight to the manor of his aunt and grandfather. He knew that they would protect him from Aurors, should the Ministry want to investigate him more firmly and he knew they would trust his story if he was convincing enough.

'My Lord,' the butler appeared at his side and helped him out of the bath and into the clothes he chose. They were more muggle than wizard style and the colour was of dark, calm blue. They were also soft – made of the finest materials – and comfortable. Exactly like he wanted.

He closed his eyes for a moment and breathed in the smell of clean clothing – it was like his aunt to keep everything ready as though he would show up any day.

'My Lord, shall I accompany you?' the butler asked and Ciel looked at him with his only seeing eye, the other already covered by the eye-patch.

'Yes. They have to get used to the idea that I never let my precious, little cat be far from me. I certainly hope that it will not be a problem for you to go to Hogwarts with me, but even if it's not allowed, I'm sure my aunt will make sure I can have you as comfort, if she will believe that you are such a comfort for me,' he said coldly. The butler smirked and in a blink of an eye there was a beautiful cat in front of the boy, rather than the elegant servant. The cat looked at him with dark red eyes and meowed. Narrowing his eyes in annoyance, Ciel picked up the cat and schooled his expression into a bit more scared or possibly overwhelmed before leaving the room.

He made his way to the smaller dining room, where everybody was waiting for him. Aunt Ann, Madame Malfoy (what was she doing there still?) and the old Duke Durless, his grandfather. He stopped in the doorway, hoping to look a bit uncertain.

'Come in Ciel,' aunt Ann said with a warm smile and he did, still clutching his cat to his chest. 'Let the cat go for a while and sit to eat with us. You look almost starved.'

'I… yes, thank you,' he said shyly and let the cat go before sitting at the seat his aunt indicated. Seeing his grandfather up close, he couldn't tear his eyes from the old man – what has happened to him? Surely he couldn't have aged so much during seven months!

'Oh, Ciel… I already lost hope to see you,' the old man spoke and Ciel thought it would be appropriate to give the man a hug. He remembered adoring his grandfather before and he was sure this was expected from him. The tears of joy in the old man's eyes were a confirmation.

'Ciel, what happened to you?' aunt Ann asked, when he sat back on his seat.

'Later, Angelina. Let the boy eat first – he's skin and bones,' the old man chastised his aunt. He snapped his fingers and the servants brought in the food and poured tea. Taking a sip, Ciel almost sighed in pleasure.

'Let us eat then.'

'We also have your favourite juice, Ciel.' He turned to Madame Malfoy, who was holding something that looked like…

'Pumpkin juice?' he asked with a small wince, even though his thoughts screamed "it's a test!". All the others had some pumpkin juice already. 'I… um, thank you?'

'You don't like it?'

'Not really,' he said and saw his aunt visibly relaxed. So they haven't just gone and trusted him without a question? He supposed it was good news in a way. Was he expected to take the juice anyway? He tried to remember if he was very spoiled as a kid.

'Can I have something else?' he asked eventually. He didn't come back to his family to force himself through disgusting food after all.

'What would you like?'

'Apple juice would be great,' he said and Madame Malfoy snapped her fingers. Her house elf materialized and she made an order. Surprisingly, Ciel noticed that his aunt looked tense again. Was it wrong to ask for apple juice? He explicitly remembered having some often, so he must have liked it, right? In any case – there was no way out and he accepted the juice and took a sip.

Almost immediately he felt some tickling around his right eye and fought to keep his expression pleased with the taste – the juice was mixed with a potion!

Heart racing, he put away the glass and smiled at Madame Malfoy.

'It's delicious, thank you,' he said and almost held his breath waiting for the reply. The potion had no taste, so he supposed if he hadn't had the spell cast on his eye, he wouldn't know there was anything inside. Madame Malfoy smiled back.

'I'm glad you liked it.'

'Now, let's eat,' his grandfather said. 'We'll talk after the breakfast is over.'

Knowing that he needed the potion to wear out, Ciel took his time enjoying the delicious food, hoping that nobody will notice that he hasn't touched his juice anymore.

})i({

On the evening of the very same beautiful day late in June an old foe of the wizarding world rose from the dead.


	3. The school of witchcraft and wizardry

**Kuroshitsuji belongs to Yana Toboso, Harry Potter to JK Rowling.**

**This unlikely crossover idea, Cain Kruspe and the words are mine though so please don't take them.**

**Read and review!**

* * *

**Chapter 3: The school of witchcraft and wizardry**

Even after Draco returned from school, Narcissa insisted on staying in the Durless manor, rather than going home, and Angelina had no heart to tell her that maybe it was healthier that they went. When Draco was annoyed at this, Narcissa would say that together they could make a family and that now Draco had a brother he's been asking for before. Eventually, Angelina talked with Draco in private, explaining that his mother suffered his father's disappearance and presumed death harder than could be expected and that maybe he should just humour her and spend this one summer with them all. She promised that his mother would snap out of it eventually.

It took time for Ciel to warm up to Draco, but eventually they got along well, in a way that kids who have lost a lot would. They never mentioned their loss and Draco gave up a lot of fooling around with his school friends in favour of playing chess with Ciel who would cringe at the very mention of going out to meet other people. Not that there was so much of fooling around going on this summer – many of his friends have also lost fathers and were not in a mood to have fun.

The news didn't say much about the raise of You-Know-Who, but close friends of Narcissa and Angelina knew for sure that the Dark Lord has returned. The news sent Narcissa into another panic attack, because she was afraid that Draco might be recruited and share the fate of his father, but the Dark Lord has ignored them for now. Angelina and her father took the news in a calmer fashion, but the latter hasn't missed the fright in her father's eyes ever since.

'Ciel will go to Hogwarts,' the Duke said one day, when he and Angelina were having an afternoon on their own, profiting from the fact that Narcissa was out to meet Daisy Parkinson and the boys were playing chess. Angelina looked at her father with some surprise.

'Are you sure, father? Considering the raise of the Dark Lord and Dumbledore's sympathies…'

'Only in Hogwarts will he be protected from the Deatheaters, Ann, from the wrath of the Dark Lord.'

'The wrath of the Dark Lord?' she seemed lost.

'My dear daughter…' the Duke sighed. 'Do you think it's a secret that you are meeting "in secret" with Sirius Black?' A blush coloured the face of Angelina. 'It hasn't made it to the front page of some gossiping magazine only because that silly Harry Potter is taking all the attention with his adventures.'

'I don't know what-'

'Give me some credit Angelina. I have said nothing about it yet because it's innocent enough, but soon I will go about finding you a more representative candidate for husband. You can't possibly marry that man.'

'Of course, father,' she knew better than to argue and she had no intention of marrying a disgraced traitor and coward. 'But how does that endanger Ciel?'

'I'm not sure anymore. I was certain that the murder of Phantomhives was a repercussion for me and Vincent refusing the Dark Mark…'

'You what?'

'Calm down Angelina. I can hardly have an ugly mark like that if I am a noble. I assumed the Dark Lord understood that but last year he started growing a bit more unpredictable.'

'You didn't tell me anything about that!'

'I was not going to worry neither you nor Rachel with that. And it seems that I was wrong anyway. Ciel wouldn't have survived if it was Dark Lord's doing. He was very brave to outsmart those Muggles that caught him.' They shared a fond smile. 'But I think that he'll be safer in Hogwarts. You can say whatever you want about Dumbledore but that fool is a firm believer in redemption and as long as he'll think that he can change Ciel, he'll accept him in the school. Not that he ever made any moves to remove the Deatheater children from school.'

'Maybe you're right.'

'Of course I am. Dumbledore will not let anything happen to his students, no matter where they come from. And I will make sure that Snape keeps an eye on Ciel to make sure that he's happy in the school. Also, maybe Dumbledore will take my suggestion for the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher and then we'll have two informants within the school.'

'I don't think Dumbledore will take anybody who has ties to you,' Angelina pointed out, but to her surprise the Duke smiled. 'Alright, I think I don't want to know. Who is this person?' The smile of her father grew.

'I think you will like him,' he only said but his tone told Angelina much more. She almost groaned.

'Father…'

})i({

'Are you excited to go to Hogwarts?' Draco asked Ciel when they were waiting for Aunt Ann and his mother to go to the Diagon Alley for shopping. Ciel shrugged and looked up from the cat that he never seem to part with to Draco.

'I don't know. I don't really want to go to be honest. But it could be very interesting, right?' Draco laughed at the slightly childish voice. He grew to know that Ciel wasn't always as childish as the adults though and it was a sure sign of stress that he sounded younger than he was right now.

'No worries, if anybody as much as touches you without your permission, I'll beat them up,' he assured and Ciel gave him a small smile. Draco also grew to, for the lack of better word, love Ciel like his younger brother whom he indeed wanted to have.

'I don't think the brute force solution will gain you any credit in the eyes of the teachers,' Ciel said, making Draco laugh.

'There you are!' Narcissa and Angelina arrived, wearing black and blood-red, respectively. It didn't escape Draco's attention that for the first time since his father's disappearance, his mother was not wearing a veil partly covering her face when she went in public. He smiled.

'Oh Ciel, do you really have to take Sebastian with you?' Angelina asked and the boy looked down at his cat that he had named after the dog he had before the fire. 'I'm sure he'll be better off if he doesn't come to the Diagon Alley, it'll be quite crowded at this time of the year.' Hearing that, Ciel involuntarily hugged the cat tighter, making it meow in protest.

'I think Sebastian will be fine, Ann,' Narcissa interjected. 'Let's not loose more time – we have quite some shopping to do. Also, I believe Frances and Elizabeth are waiting for us already,' she added glancing at the clock hanging over the fireplace.

Without further discussion, they appearated into a calm alley adjacent to the Diagon Alley. Making sure they look presentable, they left their calm place and dove into the crowds of the main shopping street in London. Ciel tried to avoid the worst groups, but he was almost hyperventilating by the time they entered the shop of Madame Malkins, who greeted them enthusiastically from where she was doing measurements for a black haired boy that looked to be about Malfoy's age. The boy made a face upon seeing them, but said nothing and just looked at Draco, as though challenging him to start an argument. Ciel looked between the two boys and realized that it must be the famous Harry Potter.

'Your turn, Hermione,' the black-haired boy said and a girl took his place. She glanced at Draco and Ciel and her eyes widened momentarily, before she looked away. She must have recognized Ciel, as opposed to Harry Potter, but then, according to Draco, Harry Potter was not the sharpest tool on the shed.

The girl didn't take too much time, but the silence was so heavy it was almost hard to breathe in the shop. Ciel could see that the black-haired boy was sometimes glaring at Draco, who did his best to glare back while pretending to not notice the other boy. The girl named Hermione seemed a bit worried, while aunt Ann and Madame Malfoy looked uncomfortable. Ciel petted his cat, almost grinning as he imagined what Sebastian must think about this kind of behaviour. His "butler" has expressed displeasure for the situation a couple of times already, but Ciel only told him to hurry up and find the culprit if he was so bored of being petted and carried around. There was no much of an answer the man could have for that.

After the two kids left, Madame Malkins smiled at aunt Ann and asked who'd go first for the measurements. The latter said that it would be Ciel and so the boy went and suffered through the procedure while trying to think about something else. Going to school would limit the time he had for finding his revenge, but on the other side, he would be well protected and Sebastian would have access to the biggest archive the wizarding community had. He hadn't forgotten that the leader of his tormentors pulled out a wand on that last, fateful night – the answer to his query was within the wizarding community.

'Alright, young man,' said the voice next to his ear and he nearly jumped out of his skin. 'I'm sorry Ciel, I didn't mean to scare you. I'm done with the measurements now, so you can step down and make place for Draco,' Madame Malkins added and Ciel did as he was told, noticing with the corner of his eye that his aunt was talking with a man who wasn't there before.

The newcomer had short, spiked up, dark hair and rather sharp features. He didn't really look friendly, but something he just said made his aunt smile softly. Madame Malfoy replied something to the man, which made him smile in turn and look straight at Ciel, who almost took a step back but remembered himself in the last moment.

'So you're also going to Hogwarts for the first time?' the man asked in a voice that was probably meant to be friendly, but the accent with which the man spoke, gave the words a bit too much sharpness to pull off "friendly".

'Ah, yes… Ciel, meet your future teacher, Professor Kruspe,' aunt Ann said, smiling first at Ciel then at the man.

'Please, Madame Red, this title makes me feel old!' the man protested and turned to Ciel again. 'It's nice to meet you Ciel, we've just been talking about you. You look very much like your father.' Ciel's eyes widened.

'You knew my father?' he asked, mind going mile in a minute. The man smiled again, although there was a touch of sadness in the smile this time.

'Briefly. We worked together a bit, but then this… accident happened…' the man trailed off for a moment. 'I'm very sorry for your loss, Ciel.' The boy looked down, knowing that his eyes should tear up at that moment, but he had no more tears to cry. He was of course sad about what happened, but all feelings were a bit detached, as though everything around happened to somebody else and Ciel was just observing and calculating.

The touch of his aunt's hand on his shoulder was probably supposed to be reassuring, so Ciel looked up, giving her a sad smile. In the meantime Madame Malkins finished with Draco's measurements and they left, saying good-bye to Professor Kruspe and going to meet the Midfords and continue the shopping.

Elizabeth Midford was Ciel's childhood playmate and a one year older student of Hogwarts. She and her mother greeted them enthusiastically and all together they had quite a nice day – even Ciel had to admit it. He still wasn't looking forward to being in the wizarding school, but he had gotten used to the idea and thus felt ready to face the bunch of loud kids. Or so he thought.


	4. New teacher, new hopes

**Kuroshitsuji belongs to Yana Toboso, Harry Potter to JK Rowling.**

**This unlikely crossover idea, Cain Kruspe and the words are mine though so please don't take them.**

**Read and review!**

* * *

**Chapter 4: New teacher, new hopes**

Harry Potter was one of those few students who actually enjoyed school. Every year he spent his holidays counting days until he was finally allowed to go back to school and this year was no different. If anything, it was possibly worse because of the terrible events that marked the end of last year. He hasn't been able to cope with seeing Cedric dead and he woke up often screaming, dreaming about that night.

The worst was that people didn't believe him. They didn't want to think that Lord Voldemort might actually not be as dead as they hoped and that, worse, he might be back. So far things have been way too calm, which made Harry think that it was the silence before the storm.

Sitting in the Great Hall, watching this year's first-year students being led in by McGonagall, Harry hoped that at least at Hogwarts he will have people who believe him and who will acknowledge the raise of Lord Voldemort. Much to his disappointment, the Sorting Hat did it's song and sorted the first years as every other year.

'Oh look, it's that boy from Madame Malkins!' Hermione whispered, pointing.

'Where?' he asked, snapping out of his glum thoughts. Just then "Phantomhive, Ciel" was called out and he saw the boy that came to Madame Malkins with Malfoy.

'I thought it was a rumour that Phantomhive would come to Hogwarts!' Ron exclaimed in a hushed voice next to him and Harry looked at his best friend. The Sorting Hat screeched "Slytherin" in the front of the room.

'You know him?'

'Everybody does. His parents got murdered last year, quite a brutal thing – their house got burned to ground. Then he was missing for several months and turned up in his aunt's house without any warning sometime in June,' Ron said surprising Harry even more.

'Not just sometime,' Hermione corrected him. 'Exactly on the day of the Third Task in the tournament.'

'No,' Harry breathed, remembering all too well what happened on that day. 'Do you think that those two events were connected?'

'It's an awful coincidence… And his family has appropriate reputation,' Ron mused. 'I could imagine him staying with You-Know-Who until that day and…'

'Ron! This is outrageous!' Hermione scolded the red-hair. 'How can you even think those kind of things without any proof or even a hint of a proof!' Ron looked hurt, but he didn't have time to answer because Dumbledore got up from his seat at that moment and started greeting them in the next year at Hogwarts.

'Furthermore,' the headmaster spoke. 'I'd like you all to welcome your new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Cain Kruspe,' he said and pointed to where the new teacher was sitting, between McGonagall and Sprout, looking polite if rather bored. He smiled briefly and nodded in the general direction of the students.

'Oh my, who calls their son "Cain"?' Hermione asked rhetorically.

'His parents obviously,' Ron retorted with a grin. 'He looks evil.'

'Yeah, and look at Snape,' Harry whispered. Their Potions professor was completely ignoring the introduction and was not glaring murderously at the newcomer who took his desired post. 'I think it's the first time he's not furious during this part of the speech!'

'That's true! There's something weird about it!' Ron immediately caught the opportunity to make up more conspiracy theories, while Hermione expressed her hopes in the new teacher being more reasonable than the previous one and teaching them something appropriate.

As the feast started, Harry managed to notice, with the corner of his eye, that the new professor looked around the room and nodded at somebody. Then his attention was taken by the food and he hasn't thought about the new professor until the day after, when he found out that their first lesson every week would be double Defence Against the Dark Arts, followed by double Potions after lunch. With a bit of apprehension he awaited the Monday, wondering if it would be a day from hell or not.

})i({

The fifth year Gryffindors and Slytherins had traditionally all the lessons together and sometimes Harry wondered what they were being punished for. This year was no different and after two days he already hated everybody in Slytherin with renewed passion. Things have changed of course, with so many of their fathers dead, but the Slytherins were still insupportable. Worse, some teachers seemed to think that they were a traumatized bunch and seemed to loosen up a bit on punishments.

When Monday finally came Harry prayed that professor Kruspe would be at least fair, if not on the side of Gryffindor. His hope was crushed when he, Ron and Hermione entered the classroom that was assigned for their lesson and saw the new professor talking with none other than Draco Malfoy. As they sat down the professor looked up and around the room.

'Right, I think you're all present now,' he said moving to the desk in front of the class. 'My name is Cain Kruspe and you're expected to address me as "professor", as you surely know,' he continued in cold and hard voice that somehow made Harry think about Snape.

'I will expect you also to show up on time in the class as I despise tardiness. I will expect you to pay attention and learn to your best abilities because we all want to be able to defend ourselves against the evil, don't we?' he said with a smile that made a shudder run down Harry's spine.

'He means against him?' Ron whispered to Harry, obviously thinking the same.

'I will expect you to not whisper,' the teacher continued with a cold glare straight at Ron, who turned pale and straightened in this chair. Somebody from the Slytherin side giggled and the man turned to them with the same glare. 'Nor to giggle or in any other way disrupt my lessons.' With a certain satisfaction, Harry thought that at least the man seemed fair.

'I have been given to understand that you have had a different teacher every year and I have not been able to find any notes on your progress, except for your third year, where Professor Lupin was kind enough to leave some information for his successors. In consequence, I am forced to start this year of education with a test,' the teacher continued. He snapped his fingers and test sheets appeared on every table, causing stir in the classroom.

'You will complete this test during this lesson. When you're finished you can leave the classroom. For next week I expect you to hand in essays on the importance of this course and your expectations for this year.' Another wave of whispered rolled through the room.

'Now write.'

Harry looked at the sheet of paper in front of him. In the top it said "Knowledge from the first year of education" and five questions followed. The next sheet started with a similar title, just about their second year, then the third year's and fourth year's knowledge test followed on two more sheets. He read the first question and exchanged glances with Ron – how were they supposed to remember what they did four years ago?

Hermione was writing frantically, already finishing her answer to the first question. Harry strained to look what she was writing.

'Ah yes,' everybody jumped as the teacher spoke again. 'If I catch anyone cheating at any point in my classes, they will have a detention throughout the year.'

'What?' Ron exclaimed, then remembered himself and clasped a hand over his mouth. Professor Kruspe looked at him dangerously calmly.

'Well, Mr. Weasley, I do believe that one should only receive merit for what one achieves alone. I despise lies and liars and as your professor it is my duty to teach you moral values, as well as magical knowledge.' There was an edge to his tone that made Harry wonder if the man was ironic, but he decided not to test that theory – he had no desire to have a detention this early, much less one that would last until the end of the year. Thus, he did his best in the test and then followed the complaining Ron to the Great Hall for lunch.

'He cannot do that!' Ron was saying. 'I'm sure it's forbidden to give a detention for so many days!'

'I will not test that,' Harry muttered and then watched as Ron stepped on the tail of a black cat, which hissed furiously and scratched Ron's leg, running away before the latter could kick it.

'Ron!' Hermione exclaimed.

'It scratched me!' Ron protested. 'And it's bleeding. What kind of cat is that?'

As though in an answer, they saw Ciel Phantomhive walk past, the cat walking at his side. Creepily enough, the cat turned to look at Ron and hissed again, getting the attention of Phantomhive, who frowned and then followed the gaze of his cat. The first-year looked at them steadily and then moved on, his cat following, into the Great Hall.

'Well that was weird,' Harry muttered as Hermione performed a simple, healing spell and the scratches on Ron's leg disappeared, leaving just destroyed trousers.

'I've seen him yesterday,' she said so quietly that they could barely hear her. 'He was in the library, looking at some advanced books when Madame Pince came to ask if he needed help and he just stared at her with such coldness and contempt that she didn't know what to say. Then he said that he was fine on his own, thank you. Then he left and only then I noticed that this cat was following him just like he did today.'

'Huh? That's weird,' Harry said, getting a nod from Hermione and another conspiracy theory from Ron.

'What if he's the spy of You-Know-Who?'

'Ron! What kind of nonsense is that? How could an eleven-year-old be a spy of You-Know-Who?' Hermione asked with irritation. 'You know that he has seen his parents murdered and he's been kidnapped and you did hear that he wears this eye-patch to hide the wound-'

'Which he refuses to have fixed,' Ron argued back, trying to keep his voice down, but still attracting the attention of passing students.

'I don't think anybody can make a gauged eye grow back,' Hermione said quietly and seriously. A shudder ran down Harry's spine at the images this statement produced. 'The least you could do is stop those idiotic theories. Don't you think I haven't heard Seamus and Dean repeating them after you? Can't you imagine how difficult it must already be for that kid to be here?'

'Next thing you'll start to defend those Slytherins who's fathers were Deatheaters and suddenly went missing, because it's so traumatic,' Ron countered but he looked rather sheepish for what he said before.

As if on cue, a group of Slytherins walked past them, not sparing them a glance. Harry quickly noticed that they were in fact those few who had lost their fathers in January and he wondered if they had really changed so much because of that. He could sympathise of course, until a point, having lost his parents as well.


	5. The black cat

**Kuroshitsuji belongs to Yana Toboso, Harry Potter to JK Rowling.**

**This unlikely crossover idea, Cain Kruspe and the words are mine though so please don't take them.**

**Read and review!**

* * *

**Chapter 5: The black cat**

As every evening, Ciel cast a wordless, wandless silencing spell on his bed. He wasn't supposed to know this spell yet and he didn't want people to think that he had something to hide. Not that the Slytherins would carry the gossip on outside the house, but it was bad enough to have the students from other houses whispering behind his back. He hasn't heard any of that of course, but Sebastian told him what they were saying: that he was the spy of the Dark Lord.

Simultaneously, he didn't want anybody to know that he had nightmares frequently and even less he wanted them to know what the nightmares were about.

He settled in bed before the other boys in the dormitory came back from the common room. He kept a cool and polite relationship with all four of them, but if he could avoid them he was happy to do so.

'Sebastian,' he muttered and the black cat hopped onto the bed. Thankfully the bed was large enough that even after the cat became his "butler" there was enough space for both of them. He tolerated the closeness and touch of the man, but if the latter could be avoided he was happier.

'My Lord,' the butler did something that could have been a bow if he was standing.

'Have you found anything?'

'Not much I'm afraid, my Lord. I have been only able to verify all the teachers so far and they all seem to be clean from suspicion as they have an alibi for the both nights. Professor Cain Kruspe was a bit of a challenge since he has been very far at that time but I have been able to establish without the doubt that on the night when my Lord's parents perished, he was in Berlin, while on the night when my Lord called me, he was on a plane between Europe and North America.'

'Did he really work with my father?' Ciel asked the question that has been bothering him ever since he met the man.

'Yes, my Lord. He was my Lord's father's contact in Germany.'

'He's a Deatheater then.'

'I haven't seen a proof, but I think it's safe to assume, yes. So is Professor Snape although apparently he is a traitor who's reporting to Dumbledore. That is at least what the headmaster thinks.'

'Hmpf, that doesn't really help anything. I should be very careful about my investigation in this case,' Ciel pointed out, leaning against his pillows. Somewhere on the other side of the closed curtain, he heard the other boys come in noisily and he winced.

'If I may, my Lord, it doesn't fit Dumbledore to have used such a drastic measure upon the Phantomhive family,' the butler said carefully and Ciel pinned him under a sharp glare.

'The Ministry then? They have done a rubbish job trying to discover who was behind those doings!' the boy fumed. 'They couldn't even tell that it was wizards! Blamed it on some Muggle gang or something – like a Muggle gang could have gotten through the security measures that my father had in place!'

'Does my Lord wish me to infiltrate the Ministry in this case?' the butler asked, bowing his head slightly.

'No. First we need to make sure that it is safe for me to be in this school. I order you to discover the true loyalties of Snape. Also – check those people who are in the Order of the Phoenix. If it was Dumbledore's doing I don't doubt that he would have sent one of his trusted people to supervise the operation.'

'Yes, my Lord,' the butler bowed and a moment later, the black cat left the dormitory.

Ciel laid down with a sigh, wondering if tonight he would at least be able to sleep peacefully or if the nightmares would come to hunt him again.

The black cat left the Slytherin dungeons and trotted down to where Professor Snape had his classroom and his private quarters, but there was nobody there. The cat sniffed a bit on the doorway only to feel the mix of the student smells and the most intense one of the professor.

Ah, so the man has recently left his room… Most probably he was on one of those patrols that the teachers did every night.

The cat followed the smell of the tortured soul, keeping to the shadows that were dancing with the candle light everywhere.

'Kruspe!' the cat heard behind the corner. 'What are you doing here?'

'Patrolling the corridors, much alike you… Severus,' the other voice, belonging to none other than Cain Kruspe, answered smoothly. There was a pause and the cat imagined Snape checking if there was anybody listening.

'Cut the act. The Dark Lord is foolish to send you here!' Snape hissed finally.

'Do you question the Dark Lord's orders?' came a silky reply. The cat would have purred, but it needed to keep its presence secret since everybody knew that it belonged to Ciel Phantomhive. 'But it has not been his idea, Severus. Would you believe that it was our dear headmaster who asked if I could join his prestigious school and teach the brilliant youth?' Kruspe said, each word laced with sarcasm.

'Does Dumbledore know what you are?'

'What I am? I am exactly the same as you, Severus. And how do you know that anyway, hmm?'

'The Dark Lord told me that I will not be alone this year,' Snape admitted although it was with some reluctance in his voice.

'I see. It must be a relief for you to have somebody to talk with finally,' again the words were dripping with sarcasm. 'Too bad you have avoided me so entirely so far.'

'You don't want anybody suspecting your true loyalties, do you?' Snape hissed in reply. 'We can hardly become best buddies, not to mention that people would find it suspicious enough, since you hold the position that I desire.'

'Yes, that is true. I would have exchanged with you gladly, but I was never good with potions.'

'Not that those stupid students would notice,' Snape said bitterly. There was a pause and the cat risked to take a glance around the corner. The two men were standing at a certain distance, looking at each other carefully, as though measuring up the strength of the opponent.

'It must be boring to be stuck in this school, teaching stupid, uncaring children when you could have been the Potion Master the most renown in the country,' Kruspe said with the tone worthy of a devil tempting a soul to sin.

'It is the order I have been given by the Dark Lord,' Snape said harshly. 'I do not question the orders of my Lord.'

'Indeed. Well, I shall be going on as I suppose you should as well.' They went each his own way and the cat trotted on behind Snape, wondering what was the purpose of that pointless conversation. Is the Dark Lord suspecting Snape of being a traitor? Snape was for sure a double agent, but whom was he really loyal to?

The cat almost turned the corner, walking behind Snape, when a new voice made it stop dead in its tracks.

'Severus,' the unmistakeable voice said.

'Dumbledore,' the Potions Master acknowledged before casting a silencing spell. The cat could barely hear what they were saying now and had to risk coming closer. Thankfully that corridor was particularly dark.

'Is there anything on your mind, Severus? You seem disturbed.' Was the headmaster just playing a naïve man? – the cat wondered. 'I couldn't sleep myself so I went for a walk.'

'I'm doing my patrol, Dumbledore,' Snape said curtly.

'But I see that something is bothering you, Severus. What is it?'

'Your new teacher-'

'Please don't tell me that it's the same thing again. I thought you grew out of your desire to take that position.'

'You know I haven't. But that is not the point right now. How did you find him?'

'Duke Durless suggested the man and he has otherwise excellent references,' Dumbledore said calmly.

'Durless! You listened to him? You know that he is a Deatheater!' Snape exploded. The cat was sure that even with the silencing spell somebody could have heard him if they were walking past at that moment. But then – nobody walked past.

'Severus. Don't you think I haven't checked him? But there are no hints even of him belonging to the Deatheaters.' Snape looked at the headmaster evenly and the cat almost held its breath.

'He is a Deatheater.'

'What? Severus, are you sure?'

'I have been informed by the Dark Lord himself that I would not be alone this year at Hogwarts, that I would be joined by one of his secret agents from the continent.'

The panic on the face of the headmaster was almost worth the revelation of Snape's true allegiance. The two shared a long silence.

'A secret agent from the continent? Severus, this is very serious – I had no idea that the power of Tom reaches so far.'

'Neither had I. It could have been that the Dark Lord alone knew of the existence of those "secret agents". I also don't know how many they are and where they are located.'

'This is very bad, Severus… I have to call up a meeting of the Order immediately,' the headmaster said and turned to leave but Snape caught his arm.

'You cannot. If anything happens to any of those agents Kruspe will know that I sold him to you and then the Dark Lord will know the truth.'

Was there fear of death in the voice of the Potions Master? – the cat mussed even though it had to admire the game Snape was playing. The young master would have enjoyed playing a game with such an opponent…

'Severus-'

'No, Dumbledore. This time you have to listen to me,' Snape said firmly. 'To remain so well hidden is not easy and in those secret agents I have found my match finally. You will not tell anybody about this for now and I will try to see what I can find out, but if this is to lead anywhere it has to be done discretely and your precious Order is anything but discrete.'

'What will you do then?'

'I will find out who are those agents and where they are. The Dark Lord said "one of my secret agents" so there are more. If you want to destroy them, you have to destroy them all at once and be at that point prepared to strike down the Dark Lord.'

It seemed to the cat that Dumbledore never really considered Severus Snape as more than a pawn in his grand plan and he was now quickly revising his opinion. The cat was strengthening his opinion – Snape was definitely a traitor or else he would have not mentioned anything from his previous conversation, much less would he advice the headmaster in such a way.

'Alright Severus, we'll do it your way for now,' the headmaster conceded finally with a nod. 'I expect to hear from you as soon as you have something.'

'Of course,' Snape said and turned away with a swish. The cat remained where it was, watching the headmaster who in turn watched the retreating figure.

When Snape disappeared, Dumbledore looked around sharply and the cat was afraid for a moment that it has been discovered, but the headmaster turned around and left as well.

Knowing the true allegiance of Snape, the cat decided to follow the headmaster and see if there would be any other late night meeting in store. And if not – it would go on to find the list of the members of the Order of Phoenix.


	6. Creating possibilities

**Kuroshitsuji belongs to Yana Toboso, Harry Potter to JK Rowling.**

**This unlikely crossover idea, Cain Kruspe and the words are mine though so please don't take them.**

**Read and review!**

* * *

**Chapter 6: Creating possibilities**

None of the members of the Order of Phoenix had gone missing in January – Sebastian's words still echoed in Ciel's head when he ordered his faithful servant to infiltrate the Ministry. He knew now that it couldn't have been Dumbledore or any of his key followers who had imprisoned and humiliated him so he was safe within the walls of the school. Hopefully.

Sebastian assured him that he could be back in almost a blink of an eye if his life was in danger, so Ciel went about his usual business of studying to be the best possible and trying to find some information on his own. He was not as good as Sebastian in staying unnoticed, but he soon realized that people were very careless when they thought nobody could hear them.

He also ordered Sebastian to send Kruspe an anonymous note saying that Snape was a traitor – he hoped to see them meeting next time. Much to his disappointment, Snape seemed to be actively avoiding the other teacher and Ciel even managed to overhear some students talking about that.

'So where's Sebastian?' Draco asked after the cat has been gone for three days. Ciel looked at him and shrugged. 'Don't tell me he ran away. Would you like a new cat?'

'No, I'll be ok. I know he'll come back,' Ciel replied with confidence. 'Maybe he got bored of the castle?'

'Yeah, by now even I am bored – nothing is happening.' Ciel nodded in agreement and closed the book he was reading.

'I wish it at least started snowing, this rain is brining me down,' he said, looking outside the window at the gloomy, late Autumn day. Elizabeth came to sit next to him and leaned in for a hug. He has learnt that it was better to humour her rather then protest and after some time he realized with some panic that he didn't mind her hugs.

'Will you come to visit during Christmas?' she asked and he said that he would of course and that she could come to visit as well. 'And Draco will be with you?'

'I suppose,' Draco was the one who answered. 'My mother still didn't come around to going to the Manor…' he trailed off and looked down. Elizabeth moved to hug him and tell him that things would become normal soon.

'They will never be normal. I think by now it's obvious that my father is never coming back,' Draco said sadly. It has been often in the Slytherin common room that this topic would come back and with the gloomy weather the general sadness multiplied.

'They still don't know what happened?' Ciel asked, feeling sorry for his friend. Draco shook his head.

'Not like anybody is really looking into it – who would care about a bunch of Deatheaters?' he asked bitterly. 'Most of the people think that they got what they deserved, most people are happy that my father is most probably dead. They never stop to think that my father had a family that he left behind. Try asking weasel for example, what he thinks. Ask him if it crossed his mind that my mother is a widow and that she loved my father even if their marriage was arranged to start with. Ask his mother what she would feel if she was my mother.'

'Oh, my poor Draco,' Elizabeth sighed and hugged him tighter and Ciel could see that Draco was grateful there were so few students inside. Most went to Hogsmeade but Draco and Elizabeth decided to keep Ciel company.

'He went missing in January and it's November now…' Draco muttered and Ciel felt an unpleasant feeling, but he pushed it away, refusing to believe that particular thought.

})i({

Severus Snape was on his way back from the headmaster's office, when somebody dragged him into a dark corridor and pinned him against the wall.

'What do you think you're doing, Snape?' asked a furious voice that he really would have preferred not to hear so close to him. 'Don't you think I have ways to know if people are digging where they shouldn't be?' He looked at his attacker, forcing himself to stay calm and self-assured – he hasn't been a double agent for so many years for nothing.

'Let go of me Kruspe, before somebody comes and starts to wonder why you're attacking your fellow teacher,' he said with contempt.

'You know that nobody will come Snape, so answer my question: what do you think you're doing?'

'I have no idea what you're talk-'

'Bullshit. Now talk before I decide to report you to the Dark Lord.' Snape's eyes widened a tiny fraction before he could control himself and Kruspe smiled an unpleasant smile. 'Now you're thinking, eh? You know that the Dark Lord suspects you of treason, don't you? Now you're wondering if I'm only here to teach, eh?'

'Cut this nonsense, Kruspe. As if I would be afraid of you!'

'Of me not, even though you should. But the Dark Lord doesn't take kindly to treason, so tell me: why have you been digging around?'

'The headmaster wanted to know if I can find something,' Snape said finally, having learnt long time ago that telling as much truth as possible was the best way of lying.

'The headmaster had already searched me and found me clean,' Kruspe didn't let go of the issue, still pinning the Potions Master to the wall. 'But you're digging deeper, aren't you? Just what are you telling the headmaster?'

'Nothing,' Snape said and looked the other man straight in the eye, hoping to survive the staring match like he always did before.

'It's an awfully long time to be discussing nothing,' Kruspe said finally.

'Are you following me?'

'Of course I am. The Dark Lord doesn't trust you and he wants to know what exactly are you doing when you're not teaching. It's really only useful to have another teacher at Hogwarts, isn't it?'

'Are you threatening me?'

'Not yet, but I'll start now: stop digging or you'll say good-bye to your small life.' With that Kruspe let go of him, turned around and left.

'It's not really safe to wander alone at this time of the day, Earl Phantomhive,' Snape heard him talk around the corner. 'Let me escort you to your common room.'

Phantomhive heard their conversation? – that was bad. But why wasn't Kruspe more worried? He should be unless he planned to murder the boy with cold blood – most Deatheaters wouldn't hesitate.

Snape might have been one, but he certainly wasn't going to allow killing of the students, even if the student was a son of a vicious Deatheater. Without hesitation, he followed behind, though making sure that they wouldn't see him.

Nothing happened, however, and once Phantomhive was safe in his house's common room, Snape followed Kruspe, taking even more precautions to not be noticed.

Much to his disappointment, the other teacher simply went to his room and Snape was forced to return back to Dumbledore and report on that meeting. Was the Dark Lord really suspecting him of treason? That was indeed a worrisome information if it was true.

})i({

'You will not believe what I've seen!' Harry exclaimed as he entered the common room. Twenty faces turned his way and he blushed, realizing his mistake too late.

'Well?' Fred asked, breaking the silence that fell upon the room.

'We're waiting,' George added.

'You saw Malfoy making out with Parkinson?' Fred guessed, making a couple of people snicker.

'That is nothing new, Fred,' George mock-scolded him. 'I'm sure Harry would like to tell us that he saw Malfoy being chased by an angry ferret.' Now everybody laughed and Harry's face was dark red in embarrassment.

'Way to go to come in discretely, Harry,' Hermione said with a grin, when he went to sit with them. The twins managed to get the attention to them, whether on purpose or by accident, letting Harry slip to his friends almost unnoticed.

'So what have you see?' Ron asked. 'Because it was not Malfoy making out with Snape, right?' he asked with a disgusted wince, repeating the most outrageous comment of Fred.

'No. I saw Snape spying on the DADA teacher!' Harry said.

'Professor Kruspe?' Hermione asked as though he hadn't just said that. 'Why would he spy on him?'

'Well, Snape is a Deatheater, right? So I suppose that Kruspe did something to annoy You-Know-Who,' Ron replied as though it was obvious. 'Maybe we should warn him?'

'Was he doing anything special?' Hermione asked, ignoring Ron completely.

'Funnily enough, he was leading Phantomhive back to his dormitory,' Harry said and both his friends looked at him in surprise and confusion.

'But…' even Hermione didn't know what to say.

'I think we should finally take a closer look at Phantomhive – he's popping up in all the unbelievable places,' Harry said firmly. 'First he's appearing on the same day as Voldemort, then he's becoming Malfoy's best friend and the star pupil of his year. He was there in the Restricted Section without a permission and now he's been out in the corridors after curfew.'

'So have you, Harry,' Hermione reminded him. 'And he's only eleven, what could he be doing that is so terrible? Maybe you should start by talking with the headmaster – maybe there's a reason to all this?'

'I will find out a reason.'

'I'm with you mate!' Ron said enthusiastically and they both looked at Hermione with expectation, making her roll her eyes.

'Of course I will help you – somebody has to make sure you don't do anything too stupid,' she said with annoyance, but couldn't help to smile when they grinned at her.


	7. Happy birthday Ciel!

**Kuroshitsuji belongs to Yana Toboso, Harry Potter to JK Rowling.**

**This unlikely crossover idea, Cain Kruspe and the words are mine though so please don't take them.**

**Read and review!**

* * *

**Chapter 7: Happy birthday Ciel!**

Sebastian came back from the Ministry of Magic with disappointing news: he didn't manage to get everywhere and find out everything. However, all that he managed to find pointed to the fact that the Ministry had nothing to do with the tragedy that befell the Phantomhive family.

Frustrated, Ciel ordered Sebastian to investigate the direction he never even considered previously – he told him that Lucius Malfoy disappeared in January and that it was an awful coincidence. To his annoyance, the butler smirked at the suggestion.

'Do you know anything, demon?' he demanded, for the first time acknowledging what his butler truly was. They were standing in his dormitory, taking advantage of the weird absence of everybody to discuss freely and not confined within Ciel's bed. The demon-butler bowed deeply, almost mockingly so.

'I would not dare to keep secrets from my Lord,' he said in a silky voice. 'I am merely amused at the possibility that this direction of investigation could prove correct.' Ciel looked away.

'I hope it won't but hope has nothing to do with my revenge so I must investigate this possibility as well,' he said firmly and coldly. 'Start with the information you can find in Hogwarts, I don't trust Snape anymore and after I have accidentally overheard that argument he had…'

'This was most careless of my Lord to not conceal his presence immediately upon realizing what was going on.'

'I was too shocked,' Ciel admitted unhappily.

Just then footsteps echoed and Sebastian became a cat a second before Elizabeth opened the door to the dormitory. Ciel was speechless to see her but she squealed and hugged his cat instead.

'Oh, Sebastian – you're back!' she cooed before letting go of the cat and turning to Ciel. 'He has a perfect timing, your cat. Come downstairs!' she said and before Ciel could react, she was holding his hand and pulling him to follow and, not wanting to fall, he did.

They were almost downstairs when she stopped, turned to him and told him to close his eyes and only when he complied she led him the last couple of steps down more carefully. She led him on, deeper into the room and then.

'Happy birthday Ciel!' a large number of voices yelled, making Ciel nearly jump out of his skin in surprise. He opened his eyes and looked around to see most of the members of House Slytherin standing in a semi-circle around him and a huge cake. Speechless, he watched as they threw confetti on him and sang.

He was still speechless when Elizabeth gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek and whispered, "I hope you'll enjoy this", before pushing a gift into his unresisting hands.

Draco followed with a hug and another gift and then Pansy and Blaise and the four boys from his dormitory and… Ciel lost count of the people who wished him all the best and when they were done they all had butterbeer and people demanded that he opens his gifts so he did.

Elizabeth told him to sit on the sofa and sat next to him and he realized that some people were smiling stupid smiles watching that, but he was too shocked to react. In the heat of the search he totally forgot about his birthday, but now he remembered and as his ability to think coherently returned to him, he realized what was that day the anniversary of.

He almost slipped back into his bad memories, but the chirpy voice of Elizabeth next to him snapped him out and he looked at her gratefully.

'Well? Will you open them?' she asked and he stared at her for a moment before the meaning of those words reached his brain.

'Oh yes, sorry,' he said and turned to the first gift – the small box that Elizabeth pushed into his hands. It was wrapped in a cute, pink paper and closed with pink ribbon and he smiled because it screamed "Elizabeth!" to him.

'Open that the last,' she asked him and he nodded, putting it away. He wasn't sure if he wanted to open it at all with all those people looking.

Draco gave him a set of Muggle chess in expensive wood, with intricately craved pieces. His roommates surprised him by offering him a Numerology book which he mentioned once he would like to have. The rest was small but nice gifts and finally, Elizabeth offered him a silk tie in Slytherin colours that seemed entirely normal, if expensive, except for a small embroidered heart and a "smile more" on the inside, that surprisingly made him smile instantly.

'Wear it!' she insisted and he promised he would and thanked her.

'Let's party!' Blaise exclaimed and somehow, music started. Having no choice, Ciel danced with the others, in the party atmosphere forgetting to be afraid of the crowd.

Many more songs and butterbeer followed, until finally Snape stormed into the common room and reminded them that they were expected to show up at the lessons next day, regardless of what was the reason to celebrate. The music was silenced immediately and people started heading to their dormitories.

'I hope you liked the surprise,' Elizabeth said when only her, Draco and Ciel were left in the common room. Trying to keep all his gifts in his arms, Ciel smiled at her.

'It was a great surprise, thank you,' he said, surprising himself when he realized that he was actually honest with her. She beamed and leaned to kiss his cheek again.

'Good night Ciel, Draco,' she said and skipped to her staircase and up to the dormitory. Ciel looked at Draco, who was smirking knowingly.

'Good night Ciel.'

'Good night Draco,' he replied and they went to their rooms. Once there, in relative calm because his roommates were already asleep, Ciel sobered up and piled the gifts next to his bed. Exactly one year ago he woke up in a cage… He woke up and there was a man with a hood and a mask and- he stopped himself from thinking and opened the bed curtains. He cast the silencing charm and turned to his pillow.

There was a package on the pillow. He almost jumped out of the bed before realizing that the package was absolutely harmless. His cat jumped in and turned into the butler.

'It's safe,' he said and Ciel looked at him sharply.

'Who brought it?' he demanded.

'I think my Lord will realize when he sees what's inside,' the butler said cryptically and, with an annoyed huff, Ciel took the package and opened it to reveal an unassuming notebook. Mildly curious, he opened it to see a dedication written on the first page: "I trust that you will find this lecture interesting" – written in a vaguely familiar handwriting.

He turned the page and felt a wave of dizziness as he recognized the handwriting inside – his father's. There was a date on the top of the page and he realized that it was a diary. As a thought hit him, he turned to the last page and saw the date – 14th of December last year.

"I trust you will take good care of this book, my friend," the text under the date read. "My gut feeling is that something bad might happen tonight, so I'm sending you this. If I come to our appointed meeting, give it back to me. If not… give it to Ciel when you deem appropriate."

Feeling dizzy and nauseous, Ciel put away the diary and laid down on his bed.

'My Lord?'

'Leave me,' Ciel whispered and the butler turned into the cat and left the bed. His world turning, Ciel closed his eyes and tried to breath deep and regular breaths.

The diary of his father! And none other than the one describing the events leading to that tragic night.

The memory of flames flashed in front of his eyes, the feeling of their heat flared on his skin.

Had his father expected that to happen? If so why hadn't he evacuated the manor?

He saw the bodies of his parents, mutilated and undeniably dead, splayed on the floor in his father's office and he rushed to the toilet.


	8. Engagement

**Kuroshitsuji belongs to Yana Toboso, Harry Potter to JK Rowling.**

**This unlikely crossover idea, Cain Kruspe and the words are mine though so please don't take them.**

**Read and review!**

* * *

**Chapter 8: Engagement**

He avoided the notebook entirely for the next couple of days to finally decide that he would read it after Christmas. He needed to come to terms with what it was and all the teachers seemed to think that they needed to make up for the Christmas break and were giving them crazy amounts of homework.

Nevertheless, he kept the notebook always with him, as though it was the most precious thing he owned and, in a way it was. Any other documents that his father might have had that could be a lead in his search were burnt down with the manor. It was an amazing coincidence that his father sent his notebook on that particular day – not a day later.

The whole Christmas passed in a blur and the only thing he could think of was the book. In the rare moments of free time, he sneaked up to his room and managed to read the first couple of pages. Nothing remarkable happened on them, but he didn't want to miss or misunderstand anything, so he decided to read everything from the beginning to the end.

In the meantime, he managed to regain his balance after discovering that anonymous gift. He had, of course, a good guess on who the gift came from and the fact that his butler didn't say anything more on the subject seemed to be a confirmation of his guess. He would have to find a way to speak in private with that person, to ask why and how and a thousand other questions, but it had to wait until he was back at school.

On the 30th of December, his grandfather called him to his office and Ciel went without thinking. Inside, his grandfather was waiting, accompanied by his aunt, who was smiling like crazy.

'Ciel, there is something you should know,' his grandfather said without much preamble. He was never a person to stall.

'Yes, grandfather?'

'Sit down, please.' Ciel did as he was told and looked at his grandfather with an expression of full attention mixed with a bit of curiosity.

'I suppose you know that it is a tradition in the family to arrange marriages,' his grandfather started and Ciel felt a cold shiver run down his spine – was his grandfather telling him that he had chosen a future wife for him?

'Yes?' he asked cautiously.

'I have decided, together with your aunt and the Midfords, that you and Elizabeth will make a splendid couple,' his grandfather said and Ciel felt dizzy for the second time that month.

'Me and Elizabeth?' he repeated weakly, even though it wasn't a disgusting thought.

'Yes, you and Elizabeth. Tomorrow, during the party, we will announce your engagement, as well as some other surprises. I thought, however, that you might want to know in advance.'

'This is in advance?' Ciel asked, forgetting himself momentarily. 'I mean, it's… it's surely a good decision, grandfather. I only wished you have told me a bit sooner,' he corrected himself and swallowed. He and Elizabeth? His grandfather smile and his aunt beamed at him.

'Don't worry Ciel,' she said. 'Nothing more will happen for many years and like that you will have plenty of time to get to know Elizabeth,' she added with a hard edge to her voice and Ciel had to wonder what were the other good news that his grandfather wanted to announce during the party. He had, of course, overheard them discussing her possible engagement before he went to school and he was under the impression that his grandfather had somebody particular in mind for the role of aunt Angelina's husband. Normally Ciel would have been more curious but the bomb that the old Duke just dropped on his head took all his attention.

'I expect you to behave appropriately tomorrow. Lady Elizabeth will arrive with her parents and they are supposed to inform her of this matter prior to the party as well.'

"Inform her of this matter" – Ciel felt like he stumbled into a dream and the words spoken didn't really register.

He went like this for the remainder of the day and most of the following day. He registered that his aunt was overseeing the final preparations for the yearly New Year's feast that the Durless threw for their friends, but he didn't really realize that the day of his engagement came. At least he was not expected to propose to Elizabeth in public!

His aunt told him what to wear and he wore it without a word of protest, then Elizabeth arrived with her parents, a bit before the other guests, and she went to visit him in his room.

'Hi Ciel,' she said shyly, obviously awkward about the whole ordeal as well.

'Hej Lizzie,' he greeted her back, feeling a bit better to know that she was also unsure on how to proceed.

'It's ok with you, right?' she asked suddenly and he snapped to look at her. Was that how she interpreted his hesitation?

'Of course it is! You're a lovely girl and if I had thought about it before I would have been happy. It's just that it's a bit sudden,' he admitted and looked at her for response. She nodded with a smile.

'Yeah, it's a bit sudden. My parents told me yesterday and I was terrified,' she said with some relief. He smirked.

'Am I that scary?' he asked and she laughed, however, before she had time to reply, they were called by his aunt. Without hesitation they went downstairs and Ciel's jaw almost dropped when he saw the lavish dress that his aunt was wearing. If he thought she had extravagant dresses before he was wrong.

'There you are!' she exclaimed, a hint of nervousness in her voice. 'The guests are starting to arrive and it is polite to greet them here, Ciel,' she added, still a bit nervous.

As if on cue, Draco and his mother appearated in the hall, pretending that they arrived from their manor. The Parkinson's followed and then the Greengrass and Zabinis… Ciel felt his face grow hot when he realized just how many of their fellow students would witness the engagement. Then, when he thought it couldn't get any worse, he went into the ballroom and saw Professor Kruspe talking with his grandfather, looking a bit less relaxed than he normally did.

It seemed that the other Hogwarts' students have also noticed his presence because it was their first topic when they gathered next to the non-alcoholic punch.

'I didn't know that he would be here,' Draco said in conclusion.

'Neither did I,' Ciel replied, too preoccupied with his own predicament to think much about the professor.

'So – do you know what's this big news that your grandfather wants to announce?' Blaise asked and Ciel felt his face grow hot again, which earned him curious looks from the others and a giggle from Elizabeth whose cheeks were also slightly pink. Draco looked between the two of them, eyes widening.

'No,' he said flatly and Ciel wished he could be anywhere but there.

'My dear guests,' his grandfather chose that moment to speak. 'Welcome to this splendid party. I hope you will enjoy your time and help us celebrate two important developments that make me very happy.

'Firstly, I would like to announce that my grandson, Ciel Phantomhive, and the daughter of Frances and Alexis Midford, Elizabeth, are now officially engaged to be married when they are of age.'

Everybody looked at the two of them and cheered. Or rather – the grown ups cheered while their fellow students stared open-mouthed. If it wasn't for the reason of their shock, Ciel would have enjoyed their expressions greatly.

Duke Durless let the cheers and congratulations die down before he spoke again.

'Secondly, I am very glad to announce that my daughter has chosen to grow up,' he said, making some of the guests laugh quietly.

'Father,' Angelina groaned, but the Duke only smiled at her fondly.

'Well, it is true my dear,' he told her and turned back to the guests. 'In any case, Angelina has chosen to get engaged and married at the earliest convenience,' he continued and Ciel noticed just who was standing next to his aunt.

'No way,' he whispered as his grandfather continued, announcing that the lucky man was Cain and that he was very happy to welcome him in the family.

'No way,' Draco echoed next to him.

'Oh my,' Elizabeth squealed as the cheering erupted again and people went to congratulate new couple and Ciel wondered if it was his imagination or they looked as uncomfortable as he felt some minutes before.

'I propose a toast,' his grandfather said when the commotion quietened again. 'To Elizabeth and Ciel! To Angelina and Cain!' The guests echoed the toast and drank and commotion reassumed.

'I don't believe it,' Draco said, turning back to the circle of students. 'You haven't said anything! Neither of you!' he accused Ciel and Lizzy.

'I only found out yesterday! And only about us!' Ciel defended himself. 'It's not the easiest news to digest, you know,' he added, making Pansy giggle. The older girl looked ready to drag Elizabeth away to discuss wedding dresses and flower compositions.

'I think I need a breath of fresh air,' Ciel whispered to Elizabeth, who nodded and smiled at him softly before she was whisked away by their fellow, female students. He smiled back and went to the garden to sit down and think. It didn't feel too bad to be engaged to Elizabeth, in fact he didn't feel much difference.

Then of course, he did not expect to live long enough to fulfil that particular engagement and he hoped that Elizabeth would not have time to fall in love with him. He liked her and he didn't want to break her heart but a contract was a contract.

Footsteps nearing him made him jump up and look to see aunt Ann and Professor Kruspe heading his way. They were walking side by side but not touching, he noticed. They were talking and he wanted them to see him early enough to prevent him from hearing whatever they were saying.

'Hej, aunt Ann,' he said finally and the two looked at him, his aunt smiling.

'Hej Ciel! Did you survive the announcement?' she asked with a slightly mocking tone.

'It seems so. And you?'

'I fared quite well, but Cain decided that it's a bit too much attention, so we decided to take a breath of fresh air. Where's Elizabeth? You didn't scare her away already, did you?'

'She's discussing wedding dresses with Pansy,' he answered and blushed furiously, much to the amusement of the other two.

'I see,' his aunt said finally, when she stopped laughing. She wanted to continue, but at that exact moment a man appearated next to Ciel, triggering the manor's anti-apparition wards.

'You bastard!' the man growled as the alarm started howling. Before anybody could move, he took three steps forward, punched Ciel's teacher in the face and disappearated, just as the other guests ran out into the garden.

'What happened?' somebody screamed.

'Who was that?' Ciel's grandfather demanded angrily. Angelina opened her mouth to reply.

'That was Sirius Black,' said Cain Kruspe with a smirk, wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth.


	9. Like circles on water

**Kuroshitsuji belongs to Yana Toboso, Harry Potter to JK Rowling.**

**This unlikely crossover idea, Cain Kruspe and the words are mine though so please don't take them.**

**Read and review!**

* * *

**Chapter 9: Like circles on water**

The morning of the first day of classes in the new year brought a huge commotion at Hogwarts, caused by the front page of Daily Prophet. There, taking up most of the front page, was a photo of the future Duchess of Durless, Angelina, together with the Hogwarts' Professor Cain Kruspe. The rest of the front page was taken up the title: "Engagement of the century" and a small text directing the reader to page 3 to read more.

Hermione immediately turned to page 3 and was engrossed in reading, when Harry noticed Professor Kruspe arriving for breakfast as though nothing happened. A wave of whispers washed across the room where many students were reading page 3 already or have at least seen the front page. McGonagall, next to whom Kruspe sat down, looked scandalized as well and started talking to him as soon as he sat.

'Oh dear,' Hermione whispered and Harry turned to her. 'Look at that!' she added, showing them page 3. There, next to the same photo as on the front page was another, in similar style, showing Ciel Phantomhive and Elizabeth Midford, looking mildly embarrassed to be on the photo together.

'Did they get engaged as well, or what?' Ron joked, but Hermione's attention remained serious.

'This is outrageous! I mean I have no doubts that both engagements are arranged, but at least those are grown ups! How can one push children into something like that!'

'They will only get married in a couple of years, Hermione,' Ron reasoned. 'And anyway, they expected this kind of thing to happen sooner or later. I'm surprised that Malfoy is not engaged yet.' Hermione looked at Ron as though he lost his mind and he had to explain to her that the pure blood families often exercised arranged marriages. Harry, in the meantime, took the Daily Prophet and read quickly through the article, then glanced at the author.

'It's typically like Rita Skeeter to make some awful comments even on such an article,' he said, getting the attention of his friends. 'She writes that "this is the second engagement of Angelina Durless. I wonder if she will manage to drag this one down to the altar or not." She's awful.'

'Who was she engaged to before?' Hermione wondered out loud.

'Sirius Black!' Fred informed them, sitting next to Harry and taking some juice.

'What?' the trio exclaimed all together.

'Didn't you see how furious he was towards the end of the Christmas break?' George asked.

'We saw him punching a fist into the wall and he had to explain to us why if he wanted us to keep quiet,' Fred added.

'So he did and told us that if we laugh, he'll kill us,' George continued.

'He just forgot to mention that we can't tell anybody.'

'You are terrible,' Hermione whispered.

'But what happened? I mean she doesn't look that bad, eh?' Ron asked. The twins shrugged and said that this Ron would have to ask Sirius himself and that they were not going to risk their lives.

Harry looked at the photo in the Daily Prophet. Indeed, Angelina Durless was a beautiful woman. Why would his godfather break the engagement? Unless of course he was unhappy with his life being arranged without his-

'Oh my! Guys, we're late!' Hermione exclaimed, cutting Harry's thoughts. In some panic, they started gathering their stuff and they ran to the classroom.

'Let's hope that Kruspe is so happy about the engagement that he'll forget to punish us for being late,' Ron whispered as they stopped in front of the door. Hermione opened it and they were greeted by a definitely angry professor.

Harry hoped that he hasn't heard them just a moment ago, because he for sure was not happy about his engagement. Or his happiness did not spread onto the students…

})i({

Back in London, Sirius Black growled at the front page of the Daily Prophet and threw the newspaper across the kitchen.

'I was planning to read that, Sirius,' Remus Lupin said in an annoyed tone. He offered to stay behind to make sure that Sirius wouldn't do anything stupid anymore until he cooled down. He was on a good way to cool down, but the article in Daily Prophet set him off again.

'I'm going to kill that bastard,' he growled, getting up and starting to pace the small room. 'Who does he think he is?'

'Sirius, it's time you face the facts,' Remus said with a sigh as he went to get the newspaper from where it landed.

'The facts are that she's engaged to me! That we were meeting!'

'The facts are that you officially broke your engagement by running off and not telling her anything. That she would never marry you anymore,' Remus said the words that he wanted to say since this whole mess started.

'And why not?'

'Sit down, Sirius,' Remus said with a sigh, but he ignored him. 'She would never marry you because in her eyes you are a disgraced coward and a traitor to your family,' he said harshly and Sirius howled, he wasn't sure if it was with fury or pain.

'You say those things? You, Remus?'

'I'm not saying I think like that. I know you're brave and honest, but she doesn't. She only knows what your family told her, because you never talked with her about it,' he tried to reason, hoping that it would finally convince him to stop this madness.'

'Then I'll go and tell her everything.'

'Her father will kill you on sight.'

'So I better make sure he doesn't see me.'

'Sirius… Be reasonable,' Remus pleaded, but the man left the kitchen. With yet another sigh, Remus followed his best friend to make sure that Sirius wouldn't do anything stupid, like appearating in the school to kill his "competitor" or worse, in the Durless manor to try and convince Madame Red to marry him after all.

The former would probably end badly because, although Remus didn't know much about the man, he supposed Duke Durless wouldn't have chosen somebody who can't stand up for him self. And the latter… The latter would be a simple suicide on Sirius' part.

})i({

Dumbledore looked at Snape as though the other man had grown a second hand.

'The good side of that engagement?' he repeated and an unpleasant smirk stretched Snape's face.

'Yes. Like that you only need to tell that idiot Black that you put down the anti-apparition wards and he'll come here and take care of the problem. That way you'll not have a spy in Hogwarts anymore and my cover will not be blown.'

'Severus,' Dumbledore groaned.

'Yes, headmaster? My students have told me what happened at the engagement party,' Snape said smugly. 'Sirius Black appearated there and betrayed his continued existence only to throw a punch at the new fiancé of Madame Red.'

'Yes, he did that…' Dumbledore said tiredly, trying not to remember the state of Sirius' bedroom afterwards.

'It's only too bad that he hadn't thought to kill the man on the spot,' Snape commented, earning a sharp glare from the headmaster.

'Sirius is not a murderer. To his knowledge Kruspe did nothing worse than somehow taking his old fiancée,' Dumbledore looked at Snape pointedly. 'Because you insisted to keep his allegiance secret.'

'If you're going to tell me again that we should tell them-'

'I do not doubt you, Severus. But one day the other members of the Order will find out about those secret agents and, if I were you, I'd pray that they don't find out just how much you knew and when.'

'I can deal with those idiots myself, Dumbledore,' Snape sneered. 'And you at least have a proof of how good your search for Kruspe's connections to Durless was. You don't have to trust my findings that he worked with Phanomhive anymore,' there was a tone of anger in his voice, because the headmaster questioned his previous findings.

'Even so – we don't have any conclusive proof that Phantomhive was a Deatheater.' Snape looked at the headmaster for a moment before turning and leaving the office without another word.

On his way out, he saw a black cat wandering the corridors and a feeling of foreboding washed over him.

})i({

'Ah, I think the Duke deserves a congratulation card, my dear,' a hissing voice said in the darkness. 'Yes… He finally chose well, he managed to cheat the death this time…'


	10. The game

**Kuroshitsuji belongs to Yana Toboso, Harry Potter to JK Rowling.**

**This unlikely crossover idea, Cain Kruspe and the words are mine though so please don't take them.**

**Read and review!**

* * *

**Chapter 10: The game**

Finding time to read the diary wasn't easy and Ciel felt his frustration grow as he was sitting, struggling with yet another essay for the Defence Against the Dark Arts. Some students thought that this particular lesson will become easier but, if anything, it became more demanding as time went. Ciel wasn't sure, however, if it was due to anything else than Professor Kruspe's regular arguments with Professor Snape, because Potions were becoming unbearable even to the Slytherin students. For himself, Potions were a difficult subject ever since he got caught listening to an argument of Snape and Kruspe, where the latter basically threatened to kill the former.

Come to think of that – he was curious if Snape really stopped digging around for the truth. Sebastian hasn't been able to find anything out because Snape got suddenly very suspicious of the black cat and was even more careful in choosing meeting places.

'Ciel! You'll be late for dinner!' Elizabeth called and Ciel closed the book almost gratefully. He was reaching his limits for the new-info-uptake anyway.

'Thanks for reminding me,' he said as he came up to her and she smiled. Recently he had a habit of skipping meals, between reading the diary, doing homework and trying to find conclusive proof that Lucius Malfoy was not his tormentor.

'No problem,' she answered and they walked together, sharing a friendly conversation. Somehow the announcement of their engagement two months ago made them become closer, made them talk more and get to know each other better. Surprisingly, Ciel found himself caring for Elizabeth more and more – up to the point when Sebastian chose it appropriate to remind him just what exactly was their deal.

'You seem very busy,' Elizabeth noticed as they walked.

'The homework is becoming difficult to cope,' he replied casually, making her nod.

'Especially those two… I have no idea what has gotten into them to get so vicious lately,' she agreed. "Those two" has become a popular expression encompassing the Potions and Defence Against the Dark Arts teachers after Snape has given a detention to a student who's only fault was to associate the two teachers in one sentence.

'I wonder,' Ciel said, fighting not to smirk. He really wanted to see either of them snap and finally attack the other.

'So what's the notebook you're carrying every time,' Elizabeth asked, changing the topic and pointing to the notebook that Ciel was holding even now.

'The diary of my father,' he said, seeing to reason to lie about that. 'Somebody left it for me on my birthday,' he added and watched how Elizabeth's eyes widened.

'Are you sure it's safe?' she asked immediately. 'You have heard about that diary of Tom Riddle, right?'

'Lizzy… It's the diary of my father. I know his handwriting.'

'Alright, alright, don't get angry at me, Ciel,' she said quickly. 'I just don't want you to get stuck into any weird situation.'

'It's ok, I-' he was cut off by somebody bumping into him, making him fall back on the floor. Elizabeth made a scared noise and went to help him but, but he was too busy glaring at the red-haired idiot who bumped into him.

'Watch where you're going!' Ciel hissed, his hand already reaching for the wand, even as Ron Weasley raised his hands in surrender.

'Hey kid, sorry!' he said. 'You could have watched where you're going as well,' he added in an uncharacteristically reasonable way. Ciel looked at him with narrowed eyes.

'Ciel, where's your diary?' Elizabeth asked suddenly and Ciel immediately realized that he indeed let go of the diary when he fell and that now it was not there anymore.

With a growl he turned back to the retreating figure of Weasley and pointed his wand.

'Phantomhive!' he registered somebody calling his name, but he was too angry to care. Wordlessly, he cast a spell and Weasley fell to the floor with a scream.

'Ciel, no!' Elizabeth screamed at the same time as a hand gripped his wrist brutally and he looked at a furious McGonagall.

'What are you doing, Phantomhive?'

'He stole my diary,' Ciel said without flinching. He wasn't afraid of a teacher.

'So you cursed him? Midford! Go and get Madame Pomfrey, I will take Phantomive to the head of his house to decide what is the appropriate punishment,' McGonagall said and Ciel bit back a groan – Snape has been looking for an occasion to punish him for a while now. Elizabeth shot Ciel a miserable look and went to fetch the healer, while McGonagall pulled Ciel behind herself. He resisted.

'Let go of me,' he said through his teeth. 'I can walk on my own.'

'Why you!' she almost hit him but something stopped her. 'Impertinent child!' she added, but let go of his wrist. He glared and marched off, towards the Potions classroom, hearing that she followed him quickly to catch up.

They reached the classroom, where Snape was correcting essays – an activity that always left him in a bad mood.

'Is there a problem, Professor McGonagall?' he asked, eyebrow raised as he saw McGonagall and Ciel arrive.

'Your student cursed Ron Weasley!' McGonagall informed him, still sounding scandalized. For a moment Snape looked like he didn't know how to react.

'And did Weasley deserve it somehow by his stupidity?' he finally asked in a silky voice and Ciel had to hide a smirk.

'This is not a joke, Snape – we cannot have students resorting to force like that,' McGonagall scolded.

'Fine, fine. I will deal out some punishment, thank you for bringing Phantomhive to me. Now if you could leave us so that I explain to my student how it is bad to curse other, annoying students?' Snape said, shocking McGonagall, but not Ciel. Of course he would deal out some punishment to Ciel, but he didn't want McGonagall to know that and grow suspicious.

Without a word, McGonagall left, slamming the door behind her and Snape looked up at Ciel, putting away the essay he's been grading. It was the first time that Ciel was all alone with Snape since the latter probably found out about him eavesdropping.

'It has been a while since you and me had some time to talk, Ciel, hasn't it?' Snape asked calmly.

'Sir?'

'You've been avoiding me, Ciel and I would like to know why,' Snape said even though they both knew the answer. What was he aiming at?

'I don't understand, Professor Snape,' Ciel said, putting up his best innocent face and hoping it was good enough for the old spy. There was a while of silence as Snape looked him up and down slowly, a while during which Ciel did his best not to twitch nervously.

'You have been eavesdropping on me some time ago. Why?'

'Sir?' Ciel pretended to think. He even went as far as furrowing his brow in the act. 'Do you mean that night when, em,' he pretended to be embarrassed. 'When Professor Kruspe… you know…'

'Yes, exactly that night!' Snape yelled.

'I was just passing by, Professor. It's very stupid to say but,' Ciel hung his head. 'I got lost,' he mumbled.

'You got lost?' Snape asked incredulously. Ciel nodded, still keeping his face down, because he knew that he was not good enough as an actor.

'Yes, Professor. I got lost and I was just walking down the corridor that I was sure led to my dormitory, when I heard a voice asking if he was being threatened and then I heard the answer and Professor Kruspe found me and walked me back. It seems that I was even more lost than I thought, because it took us a long time to reach the dormitory,' Ciel said, trying to make his voice tremble a bit.

'Do you know why he had said that?' Snape asked in a calmer voice and Ciel looked up at him wide-eyes, shaking his head.

'Why would he say something like that to you, Professor?' he asked with his best, naïve tone. Snape narrowed his eyes at him, but Ciel withstood the gaze.

'It is not appropriate for a student to curse another student, whatever the reason,' Snape said out of the blue, sounding as though he was reciting something he learnt by heart. Ciel jumped up when he started speaking, the change of topic was so abrupt. 'It is my obligation to make you understand how wrong it is to attack another human being. As a punishment you will write an essay for Professor McGonagall on the curse you have used, it's nature and origins, as well as on the historical uses of it and the controversies.'

Ciel had to wonder if Snape knew what curse he used and if he did – how in the world it was possible. Then he remembered who the man was, traitor or not. He pursed his lips into a tight line and nodded. An unpleasant smile twisted Snape's lips.

'I'm sure she will find the essay most enlightening and I will know, Earl Phantomhive, if you have written the truth,' he said. Ciel raised his head a bit up in a more regal stance, dropping the act of a scared student. Snape noticed and his smile widened minimally. 'And if I catch you wandering the corridors after curfew again, whatever the reason, there will be a hell to pay. Now leave before I change my mind.'

Fuming, Ciel left the classroom, careful to not give the other man satisfaction by slamming the door, like McGonagall did before. He took a couple of steps away and then turned into an unused corridor and cast a silencing spell on it.

'Sebastian.'

In a blink of an eye, his butler was standing in front of him.

'Ron Weasley, probably working with Harry Potter, stole the diary of my father. Get it back,' he said in a tone that didn't allow any arguments.

'Yes, my Lord,' the butler said with a bow.

'And when you're done, write that essay for McGonagall. I'm sure you listened in to my discussion with Snape.'

'Yes, my Lord.'

Once alone, Ciel marched down the corridor with determination. Time came to change the game.


	11. The diary

**Kuroshitsuji belongs to Yana Toboso, Harry Potter to JK Rowling.**

**This unlikely crossover idea, Cain Kruspe and the words are mine though so please don't take them.**

**Read and review!**

* * *

**Chapter 11: The diary**

It was Ron's idea, but Harry was really into the plan. To be on the safe side, they haven't said anything to Hermione.

Ron would distract Phantomhive and Harry, in his Invisibility Cloak, would take the notebook. There was surely something important in the book if Phantomhive was carrying it like that everywhere.

Everything went smoothly in the beginning. Ron successfully distracted Phantomhive and Harry had no problem to scoop the notebook under the Cloak but then Elizabeth Midford asked where was the notebook, damn her quick brain.

Harry was pretty safe, being invisible and all, but Ron was not fast enough. Every time Harry closed his eyes, he saw the younger boy pointing his wand at his best friend. Then a swishing sound rushed out of the wand and his friend fell with a scream.

Harry had just enough of a quick mind to not reveal his presence until McGonagall marched Ciel, or rather ran after him, to Snape.

'He's unconscious,' Madame Pomfrey said, snapping Harry out of his memories. 'I'm not sure what's wrong with him,' she added and Harry's blood grew cold.

'It was Phantomhive that cast the spell,' he said helpfully.

'Well then, Mr. Potter. Find Mr. Phantomhive and ask him what the spell was so that I can counter it.'

Forgetting all about the diary, Harry ran to Snape's office. He was about to knock on the door, when a black cat ran past him down the corridor. Phantomhive's black cat.

Frozen for a moment, he noticed the cat stop and hiss at him, then look past him and, sure enough, when Harry followed the cat's gaze, there was a furious first-year, wand already out.

'I wouldn't do that,' Harry said. 'I'll scream and Snape will not take it well to be disturbed.' A cold smirk twisted Phantomhive's face. He swished the wand wordlessly and the door to the Potions classroom clicked.

'Now, so that we won't be disturbed,' Ciel said quietly and, this time spoke the spell so that Harry knew that they were in their own noise bubble now and nobody would hear the screaming. He took a step back as Phantomhive advanced one step.

'You're insane,' he breathed, taking another step back because the other advanced.

'And you're a thief,' Phantomhive said coldly. Despite the circumstances, Harry's interest rose – what could possibly be so important to take such desperate measures? To get angry enough to curse a fellow student like that?

'I need you to tell me the curse you used,' Harry said, remembering what he came for. 'Ron is unconscious and Madame Pomfrey doesn't know what's wrong.'

'It's very simple,' Ciel said with a careless tone. 'He's in a coma.'

'How can we wake him up?' Harry asked, but Ciel only smirked.

'Where is my book?' he asked instead of answering and pointed the wand straight at Harry's chest.

'You would not dare,' Harry said, wondering if it really was a good choice to bluff.

'Want to try me?' Ciel asked and waved the wand, making Harry flinch and stumble against the wall. Nothing happened for a moment and then the shadows in the corridor took form of flames, the black fire closing Harry's view of everything except for his furious schoolmate.

'W-what is t-this?' Harry whimpered. Some sort of coldness was emanating out of the black flames.

'Where is my book?'

'I l-left it in t-the h-h-hospital w-wing.'

Immediately, the flames disappeared and Phantomhive put away his wand. He and the cat moved to leave the corridor, but Harry grabbed his arm.

'Don't touch me!' Phantomhive yelled as he slapped away Harry's hand.

'How do we wake Ron up?' Harry demanded with new courage. Phantomhive shrugged.

'How would I know? It's not like I'm even supposed to know that spell, much less the antidote,' he said and left the stunned Harry to stare after him.

})i({

Hermione rushed to the hospital wing as soon as she heard what happened, but Madame Pomfrey told her to go back and that Ron wasn't going to wake up any time soon. She also gave her a notebook that Hermione immediately recognized.

'Oh, those stupid…' she muttered as she opened the notebook and read the dedication. Where before has she seen this handwriting?

She turned the page to find out that the notebook was indeed a diary, written in neat handwriting, one line after another, all pages filled. She read one or two pages at random and realized that it must have belonged to the father of Ciel Phantomhive. This of course explained why the other student was so attached to the book.

'You guys can be so stupid,' she whispered, thinking that Ron and Harry must have stolen the notebook from Ciel. She turned another page and a sentence caught her attention: "The Dark Lord is getting impatient." Her eyes widened and she slammed the book shut. Only the Deatheaters called Voldemort the Dark Lord.

'I would appreciate if you gave it back to me,' said a voice just behind her and she jumped in fright, wand at ready, only to see the glare of one, blue eye.

'You nearly gave me a heart attack,' she said, putting a hand to her chest. 'You should not sneak up on people like that,' she added and extended the hand that held the notebook to him.

'I apologize,' he said stiffly as he took the book. 'You haven't read it, have you?'

'No, not at all. Why?' she asked, hoping that he would believe her lie. Something flickered in the big, blue eye – was it sadness?

'It is my father's diary… I haven't even had time to read it yet,' Phantomhive said in a sorrowful voice and Hermione resisted the urge to hug him.

'I'm very sorry for what happened to your parents,' she said quietly and left him there.

})i({

Watching the retreating figure, Ciel Phantomhive smirked coldly. Maybe he should be grateful for his childish looks – they made it so easy to fool people!

After a moment, however, his smirk faded, as he remembered that she did have the book opened before he surprised her. What was it that she read?

He needed to read this notebook without any further hesitation. He needed to know what it contained. Now.

'Sebastian.'

The butler bowed to him.

'My Lord?'

'My essay. Make sure it does not contain any knowledge that is not in the Hogwarts' library. With any luck McGonagall will believe that I simply found this spell.'

'My Lord, this spell is in the Restricted Section.'

'Yes, and?' It was better that McGonagall thought he broke into the Restricted Section than if she thought that he learnt that spell from his father. He did break into the Restricted Section in any case – who would have known that getting caught there would become his alibi?

'You will do all my homework from now on, Sebastian. I need to focus on this diary.'

'Yes, my Lord.'

A beautiful, black cat trotted down the corridor towards the library that would definitely be abandoned at this time.

With a curse, Ciel realized that it was past curfew – he definitely didn't need to be caught by Snape again. He rushed down the corridor and only in the last second did he hear slow footsteps heading his way. This time thinking quickly, he hid behind a statue.

'So he wants to come and visit Harry?' Dumbledore said to a man that Ciel had never seen before.

'That's what he says, yes,' the man replied, his voice worn but warm. 'He finally calmed down and seemed to accept… things.'

'That's good indeed, but I can hardly let him roam the castle when he's still officially wanted for a mass murder,' Dumbledore argued.

'He's locked there all on his own, Albus… Last year he had the distraction in the form of that little fling he had with Angie, but that is no more. She of course hasn't sent an invitation to him since she got engaged.'

'Yes, that was quite a shock here as well,' Dumbledore muttered and Ciel couldn't stop a smirk that twisted his face. 'Well, alright – let's find a convenient time for him to come. Maybe he could visit Harry in Hogsmeade?'

'That might be the best solution, yes. Thank you Albus. I better go now,' the nameless man said. From where he stood behind the column, Ciel could see the expression of the headmaster – as though he was itching to say something to the other man. But he didn't and they parted ways.

When the echoes of their steps was gone, Ciel slipped out of his hiding place and carefully made his way to the dormitory. He didn't meet anybody and it was with some satisfaction that he reached his bed, cast the silencing spell and opened the diary.

Last time he just finished reading the description of his father's duties, which his father put in the first few entries. It seemed that Vincent Phantomhive was charged with rather Muggle matters, operating in the world of shady transactions and dishonest contractors. A perfect place for the Dark Lord to gain money to fund his pursuits.

To Ciel's content, there was no names written explicitly so far and he hoped that his father had the thought to keep the journal nameless.

Time passed and he stumbled upon the most disturbing sentence so far: "The Dark Lord is getting impatient." It was the first time his father mentioned the infamous man. What was the change that Hermione read just that sentence?

Knowing his luck, that was exactly what she read.

He kept on reading and with every page, he felt a cold feeling grow inside him. With every page it became more and more obvious as to who was responsible for the fate that met his parents and him.

It was dawn when he finished and he heard the boys in his dormitory stir and raise, ready for the day. He stared in front of him, unseeing.

'Sebastian,' he called finally, with a heavy voice. The diary didn't give him the ultimate proof, but it was enough for him to take a step he didn't want to take. A step that he had been pushing away for way too long.

'Yes, my Lord?'

'Find out how Lucius Malfoy died,' he said quietly, but firmly.

'My Lord? I believe that Mr. Malfoy has gone missing and his death has not been confirmed,' the butler said, sounding almost mocking.

'Well then find him and bring him back here if he's alive,' Ciel had no patience for his demon's mockery. 'This is an order.'

'Yes, my Lord,' the butler bowed and left the dormitory.

Left alone, Ciel sank into the pillows and thought. If this was correct, if it was real – he needed to speak with someone soon. With a sigh, he wrote a note and went to the owlery to find an owl that would take his message to the recipient.

Afterwards, ignoring the lessons, he went to write a letter to his grandfather.


	12. Gathering allies

**Kuroshitsuji belongs to Yana Toboso, Harry Potter to JK Rowling.**

**This unlikely crossover idea, Cain Kruspe and the words are mine though so please don't take them.**

**(I wanted to add a bonus in a form of a drawing of Cain, made by kantellis on deviantArt, but it seems that I cannot add a link =( if I can add a link in a PM I can send it to people who are interested, otherwise you can go and look for her on dA, the work is called "Play with me")  
**

**Read and review!**

* * *

**Chapter 12: Gathering allies**

Ron remained in the coma and Madame Pomfrey tentatively tried to wake him up, but without much success.

'Hey, Ron,' Hermione said quietly as he and Harry came to visit their unresponsive friend. They settled on the two chairs that Madame Pomfrey set for them the previous day.

'I really wish we talked with you first,' Harry said glumly, making Hermione roll her eyes.

'Yes, you should have. Or you should have given it a moment of thought yourself. Obviously it was very precious to him and no surprise if it was his father's diary,' she said irritably and realized, from Harry's expression, that she hadn't told him yet.

'How do you know?' he asked immediately. Hermione looked around to make sure they were alone.

'Madame Pomfrey gave it to me that day and I glanced through before Ciel came and asked it back,' she explained.

'Did you find anything? Does he know you read it?

'I didn't read it Harry. I looked at a couple of sentences, enough to realize that it's a diary and that it's describing Ciel as "son". And I hope he doesn't know I read it because,' she looked around again, then motioned Harry to come closer and whispered the rest. 'It mentions Voldemort in the form of "Dark Lord" in one sentence.'

'And only Deatheaters call him that,' Harry commented, leaning against the back of the chair.

'I don't think he knows though. I suppose he was too young to know that before his parents died,' Hermione pointed out, feeling sad for the boy as she remembered the sadness in his voice.

'You're sounding like you feel sorry for him,' Harry said with a hint of irritation in his voice and, before Hermione could say anything, he continued. 'Don't you see what he did to Ron?'

'We established that you shouldn't have tried for the diary like that,' Hermione said, her voice also strained with anger.

'Nothing gives him the right to curse another student with a curse he doesn't know the counter-curse to!' Harry almost yelled, making Hermione look away. Of course, there was no real way to defend Ciel at that point.

'You still shouldn't have gone for the book,' she said, looking back at Harry, suddenly very angry. 'Why do you always have to do something stupid, in the name of your idiotic, conspiracy theories?' she yelled and left.

Neither of them noticed a black cat, hidden under Ron's bedside table.

})i({

Dumbledore looked at McGonagall with some tiredness. Although maybe he should have been relieved? It was never proved to anybody that Vincent Phantomhive has been a Deatheater, but the spell his son had just used on Ron Weasley was a big give away clue.

Was Snape aware of what the spell was when he assigned the punishment for the boy? If he was, the punishment was a rather dangerous step into the slippery path of suspicion.

'He claims he found it in the Restricted Section,' McGonagall commented when Dumbledore gave her the essay back.

'And is that possible?'

'I went and checked myself and indeed we have this spell in a book in the Restricted Section. The book is simply called "Punishment" and it's old enough to not mention that most of what is inside is now considered dark magic.'

'Innocent until proven guilty, Minerva,' Dumbledore said with a tired sigh, wondering if there was any way to prove that Ciel Phantomhive learnt the spell before coming to school. McGonagall pursed her lips.

'I know you don't want an innocent person mixed into that, but you're a bit too lenient in this case.'

'Not at all, Minerva,' Dumbledore said, still sounding very tired. 'I believe that Vincent Phantomhive was a Deatheater, but he would have to be insane to teach a child such magic. And from what we know he was thoroughly sane and very smart.'

'That child knows how to cast a complicated, Deatheater-preferred spell without speaking the curse,' McGonagall pointed out.

'If we go out with anything but solid proof, Duke Durless will cry in public at how his dead son-in-law is attacked after death, how his name is dirtied when he cannot even defend himself,' Dumbledore pointed out. 'We know what we know, Minerva, but I think for now we better keep that to ourselves and do our best to make Ciel different than his father.'

'Right. Then I better take this to Poppy, so that she can bring poor Mr. Weasley out of that unending nightmare,' she said, hoping that the boy would forget what he dreamt of during his "coma". In the essay, Ciel Phantomhive explicitly wrote that the victim of the spell would endure horrendous nightmares for the whole duration of coma and that, as the "History of Magical Punishment" said, this spell was used as a torture in Middle-Ages, where it often brought the victims to the brink of madness. He certainly did a great job on finding a lot of information about the spell in the library and, the only downside was that McGonagall had to write him a permission to use the Restricted Section, since he said that it was there that he found the spell and if he was to describe it, he needed to go there again.

With a sigh, she left the headmaster's office and went to the Hospital Wing, unsurprised to find Harry Potter sitting next to the bed of his best friend. He looked up at her with hope.

'Do you know the counter-curse?' he asked when he saw that she carried some paper.

'Yes, Mr. Potter, but I suggest you let Madame Pomfrey do it on her own. It will be a difficult procedure and when everything is ok I'll send for you and Miss Granger,' she assured him and, somewhat reluctantly, he left the Hospital Wing.

'What is the curse, Minerva?' Madame Pomfrey, who came to see her when she arrived, asked as soon as Harry closed the door.

})i({

Ciel knocked on the door to the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom and went in without waiting for the invitation. Professor Kruspe looked up at him from a pile of essays that he was obviously grading and smiled.

'Well, come in Ciel,' he said in a cold tone that Ciel had learnt was supposed to be his "friendly" tone. 'You wanted to learn a bit more about the counter-curses from last week?'

'Yes, Professor,' Ciel said and went to sit down opposite to his teacher. He saw his note on the desk: "Could I come to discuss the duelling counter-curses? I think I missed something during the lesson."

'Well then, tell me what you missed,' Professor Kruspe asked him, unsurprised when Ciel cast a wandless silencing spell. His calmness wasn't even swayed when Ciel put his father's diary on the table between them.

'Have you read that?' the boy asked, dropping the act of a student, which earned him a raised eyebrow from the professor.

'No,' the man said simply.

'You gave it to me without knowing what it said?' Ciel asked with a hint of surprise in his voice.

'Your father sent it to me for this very purpose,' Kruspe said, as though it was obvious.

'Do you know who killed my parents?'

'No.'

'You don't believe in the Muggle theory of the Ministry?' The professor shrugged.

'They make a good case for their theory, should I not believe them?' Ciel narrowed his eyes at the teacher. Was he lying? He sounded honest enough and if he knew the truth he knew that he needed to play well.

'Why are you here?' Ciel changed the topic.

'Your grandfather asked if I could come and make sure that no harm comes to you,' Kruspe said without a hint of hesitation.

'And you dropped everything, all your obligations, all your work, just to come to Britain and teach some annoying kids?' Much to Ciel's surprise, the man smirked.

'Your grandfather mentioned also a marriage with your aunt,' he said, but then became serious. 'Your father was my friend, Ciel,' he said quietly. 'Had I suspected what was going to happen, I would have come here earlier. That was not the case, but the least I could do for your father was to make sure that his son is in good hands in the school.' Ciel wasn't sure what to say to that.

'Wasn't Snape charged with that task?' he asked finally. A shrug was his only reply and he looked down at the book before pushing it towards his teacher. 'I think you should read it,' he said. Kruspe took the book and looked at him curiously.

'What will I find there?' he asked.

'Answers, but you might not like them,' Ciel replied cryptically, seeing the curiosity of his teacher increasing.

'Alright,' he said finally.

'Let me know when you finish reading, I would like this diary back,' Ciel finished the conversation.

'Of course,' Kruspe said and there was a short pause during which he concealed the diary and Ciel lifted the silencing spell. 'Now about the counter-curses,' he continued in a teacher-voice, as though they haven't spoken until now. He smirked when Ciel groaned a little. 'I did see that you were lost during the lesson.'

'This is not the reason-'

'Yes it is. Now tell me what you didn't get lost on.' Seeing no way out of the situation, Ciel surrendered.


	13. Rumours and truth

**Kuroshitsuji belongs to Yana Toboso, Harry Potter to JK Rowling.**

**This unlikely crossover idea, Cain Kruspe and the words are mine though so please don't take them.**

**Read and review!**

* * *

**Chapter 13: Rumours and truth**

Gossip spread like fire in the school. Ron, who hadn't forgotten the horrid nightmares that Ciel had inflicted upon him, vowed to take his revenge and the only way he knew how to was to spread the rumour that Ciel was a Deatheater-to-be, that he knew Deatheater spell and that he practiced them on unsuspecting students.

Because Ciel did use a spell that was considered to be a Deatheater torture spell, it didn't take much for students to believe Ron and soon everywhere the former went, whispers followed.

Harry agreed with the idea whole-heartedly, taking the sentence from Ciel's father's diary as a confirmation. He hadn't told anybody about that, because he didn't want to uncover Hermione's little lie, but he told incredible stories about his own run in with the first-year. Hermione had problems believing that he called up some sort of hellish, black flames. She spent days in the library, trying to find the spell and finally asked Professor Flitwick, who said that he had never heard of a spell like that. He promised to look in the Restricted Section and two days later told her that he hadn't found anything like that and suggested an illusion charm.

'It wasn't illusion,' Harry said firmly when Hermione suggested that to him in private. 'I tell you they were real, no illusion can bring this coldness with it.'

'But there's not a spell like that, Harry,' Hermione insisted. 'I even asked Professor Flitwick!'

'Fine, then! Go on believing that this hellish fiend is an innocent, little boy,' Harry exclaimed, irritated by the lack of trust from Hermione. 'Go and comfort him or something!' he added and left, making Hermione feel pretty miserable.

Knowing that she'd find no compassion in Ron, she went out of the Gryffindor tower and wandered the corridors aimlessly. Was she really naïve to believe that Ciel was not such a horrible person? Could he have invented a spell? She dismissed that though, but maybe he could learn a spell that somebody from his family invented. The "black fire" didn't seem to do much harm, so maybe Vincent Phantomhive taught his son a spell like that.

She walked on, not paying much attention to her surroundings, until something felt out of place. She looked around – she was on the seventh floor and opposite to the tapestry she always hated, there was a door that she was sure, has never been there before.

Curious, she opened the door to find a cosy room with a large fireplace and a set of sofas and armchairs that begged to be sat on. The whole room was in warm yellow, with a painting of an autumn bouquet hanging above the fireplace. Feeling instantly welcomed, Hermione walked in further, wondering how such a room remained hidden from the students, when a sob made her freeze.

She looked around and spotted a lone figure, curled up on one sofa.

'Hello?' she asked softly and the figure raised it's head to reveal one eye, bright with tears in the firelight and an eye-patch on the other eye. 'Ciel?'

'Go away,' the boy said tearfully, so Hermione ignored him promptly.

'Ciel? What's wrong?' she asked, coming closer. He tried to glare at her, but the tear-streaked face was not really convincing.

'What's wrong?' he asked back, his voice still harsh despite his generally miserable appearance. 'Everybody thinks I'm a Deatheater now!' he added, his voice breaking as more tears flowed out of his eye. Only now she noticed that he was holding the black notebook that contained the memories of his father.

'Oh Ciel…'

'I do a stupid thing and then I'm suddenly the evil one!' he complained as though he hadn't heard her. 'I didn't know that spell was something Deatheaters used and I was too angry to think! That diary is the only thing I have from my parents, from my house! Everything else burned in the fire, everything,' he sobbed and Hermione couldn't resist the urge to hug her. Surprisingly, he leaned into the touch, still clutching the book.

'I'm so sorry Ciel,' she whispered into his hair.

'Everything… There's nothing left of theirs,' he continued sobbing. Hermione felt a sudden flash of hate towards what Ron was doing. There was a moment of silence, only punctured with Ciel's sobs.

'And the w-worst thing,' he spoke again, pulling away from Hermione and wiping his face in his sleeve. 'The w-worst is that I read it… The diary. I read it an I found out that my father was a Deatheater,' he sobbed louder, almost desperate. Hermione felt tears build up in her eyes. 'T-then I went looking and found out that Draco's father was also suspected to be a Deatheater and…' he stopped talking to sob. 'Everybody thinks my parents deserved what they got, that Draco's father deserved to die,' he sobbed again. 'And how can I argue when they have done so much evil?'

Instinctively, Hermione hugged him again, wondering how horrible it much be to discover something like that about his family, especially like that. She had no pity in her heart for Malfoy, who was nothing but horrible, but she realized that he had lost his father and that it didn't really matter who his father was – he was the father. She couldn't imagine coming back from school to a house with only her mother.

Finding no words, she simply held Ciel until he calmed down and pulled away again, wiping his face with his sleeve and sniffing. Desperate to change the subject, she looked around the room.

'I've never been here before,' she said finally.

'Of course,' Ciel replied and she looked at him sharply, suspicions back in her head. 'It's the sitting room of my parent's manor – how could you have been here before?' he said very matter-of-factly, but she jumped up as though burnt. Had he somehow transported her out of the castle?

'You said it was burnt down!' she exclaimed and Ciel giggled softly before his face regained its sad expression.

'It was. You don't know this room?' he asked. Before she could point out what she just said, he continued. 'It's the room of requirement – it can turn into anything you want it to,' he explained. 'I've been coming here a lot lately,' he added, looking around.

'You make it look like the sitting room?' Ciel nodded.

'It was one of my favourite rooms in the manor. When I was younger, I would sit here and my mom would read stories to me,' he said softly, a sad smile gracing his face. Seeing his expression, Hermione made up her mind – she wouldn't let Harry and Ron destroy the life of that boy at school. He was obviously very different than Malfoy and he was obviously distressed to find out that his father was a Deatheater – not proud of that at all. Maybe he could become a good person in the future, but for that Harry and Ron needed to open their eyes.

'I need to speak with Harry and Ron,' she said, getting up. Ciel looked at her with surprise, then turned back to the fire.

'I'll stay here. Please don't tell anybody where I am,' he said quietly, his voice trembling a little with a promise of tears. Hermione's expression softened and she hugged the boy quickly.

'Of course I won't Ciel,' she assured him and left, set on talking with her best friends.

})i({

As soon as the door closed, Ciel smirked with satisfaction. His cat went out from under the sofa and transformed into the butler as the boy threw the notebook into the fireplace. Professor Kruspe still had the original.

'My Lord, I am amazed at this beautiful show of acting,' the butler said with his silky voice.

'Shut up Sebastian,' Ciel replied coldly. 'It was horrible to be hugged like that,' he added with a shudder.

'But it was worth the effort,' the demon in human skin pointed out.

'Yes, now that silly girl thinks I'm a poor, tortured soul,' Ciel agreed.

'Now my Lord has to keep the act,' the butler pointed out, earning a scowl.

'Tell me better what have you found out,' he said, settling down in an armchair and crossing his arms.

'I have been able to establish that Mr. Lucius Malfoy is indeed buried in a Muggle graveyard, in a no-name grave,' the butler spoke calmly and tonelessly. 'He had been found by the Muggle fire fighters, who arrived to put down the fire and had been taken to the Muggle morgue, where the cause of his death had been determined to be the lack of his heart within his body. Most probably the heart has been ripped out through a hole in his chest. Ribs broken in seem to confirm the theory.'

'And the wizards had not realized anything?' Ciel asked, unfazed by the gory description. He had expected something along those lines.

'I have been able to establish that the Muggle forces arrived at the place of the tragedy when the fire was still burning. They have been unable to put it down, but they extracted the bodies immediately after the worst flames died down.'

'Bodies?'

'Yes, my Lord. Besides Mr. Malfoy, the Muggles found about twenty other bodies of adults, as well as thirty child-sized bodies. All adults are buried in the same graveyard.'

'I see,' Ciel said with outward calmness. So it came to that. 'Continue.'

'The Muggles were unable to identify the adults, however, all the children were ones that have been reported missing in the month prior to the fire. They have been able to establish that through DNA analysis, as the skin and facial features were mostly burnt away.'

'And the wizards? They haven't gone looking?' Ciel found it hard to believe that the wizarding community had completely missed the event, which eradicated so many of them.

'Yes, they have gone looking, however, by the time any official report of a missing person reached the Ministry, the Muggles managed to clear out the place where the fire took place. Because nothing unnatural was found on the spot, the wizards assumed it was like the Muggle newspapers described it: a bunch of crazy people who wanted to play in black magic. Apparently this kind of thing had happened a couple of times before. The Muggles call those people "sects".'

'And none of the Aurors went to check the identity of twenty unidentified Muggles?'

'The Aurors seem to think that Deatheaters are not worth much attention and most of the twenty missing wizards were suspected of their ties to the Dark Lord.'

'How foolish of them,' Ciel muttered, wondering what he should do now. He had enough of proof to know who ordered the death of his parents – Sebastian's findings, together with the diary and suspicions of his father, were conclusive enough.

'But why?' Ciel asked finally. 'Did he do that because my father refused the Dark Mark?'

'My Lord's father and grandfather both refused it,' the butler pointed out. With a heavy sigh, Ciel sank back into the armchair. 'What are my Lord's orders?'

'First you will make a message to Madame Malfoy. You will give her information on where to find the body of her husband in such a way that she will not know who is the informer,' he said heavily. 'With any luck, she will trust you and discover all the nameless graves. That way they will have a closure.'

'My Lord is very generous today,' the butler mocked him, but he chose to ignore it. Draco's father might have turned out to be a monster, but Ciel had yet to find out if Draco deserved punishment for that.

'What will my Lord do in the meantime, if I may inquire?'

'Nothing. I will wait till you're back before I meet Professor Kruspe,' Ciel replied calmly. With all the facts in his hand, he wasn't going to spend any one-on-one time with the Deatheater without any sort of protection. Just in case.


	14. Against all odds

**Kuroshitsuji belongs to Yana Toboso, Harry Potter to JK Rowling.**

**This unlikely crossover idea, Cain Kruspe and the words are mine though so please don't take them.**

**Read and review!**

* * *

**Chapter 14: Against all odds**

After a visit of an anonymous wizard, Madame Malfoy went, with sufficient security provided by the reluctant Ministry and the company of Lady Durless, to a small, Muggle graveyard, where she ordered the Ministry people to unearth a body she suspected to be her husband.

Whether she really believed that it was Lucius Malfoy or not will forever remain a question. It was a fact, however, that she was correct and the day after the photo of her, broken down and crying in the Muggle graveyard, over the mutilated body of her husband, shook the wizarding community.

Draco, as well as the other children, who's fathers were found in the graveyard, were allowed to skip school for a couple of days and then, one day when the funerals took place, almost no Slytherin students were present for a full day.

They returned to school subdued, many having believed that it wasn't real until the very last moment, until they saw the coffins lowered into the ground to the sound of a sad melody. The students from other houses seemed to be caught in the gloomy atmosphere and unnatural calm ruled over the castle for a full week.

'I really can't believe it,' Draco said one day in the Slytherin common room. Ciel, Elizabeth and Pansy who were the only ones in the room, looked at him questioningly. He rubbed the family ring on his finger, now rightfully his. 'My mother said that as soon as the mourning is over, she will announce my engagement and the lawyer of my father told me that I'm expected to take over the duties as soon as I finish school.'

'Who will you marry?' Elizabeth asked.

'Astoria Greengrass.' The girl in question was not around at the moment, probably crying in her dormitory – she took the death of her father very hard.

'The only good thing,' Draco said out of the blue. 'Is that the fire burned their skin, so there is now no proof.' He didn't need to precise anything more, they all knew what he meant. 'At least I don't have to start with that kind of stain…'

'Will you not…' Ciel trailed off, not sure if he should ask, still not sure what to do about the whole affair.

'I read the Muggle reports on that case – the Ministry got them from Muggles and I have demanded to be given insight into the documents,' Draco said quietly, instead of answering Ciel's half-asked question. The latter tensed, knowing that the Muggle reports said. Silence fell between the students.

'What do they say?' Pansy asked finally, seeming upset, but Ciel couldn't guess if it was because of the news about Draco's engagement or something else.

'They say that it was an accident during the activities of something they call a "sect". They don't explain how the room caught fire, but they suppose a candle fell somewhere or something,' Draco paused again. 'But they say that there were children bodies found there as well and that one died prior to the fire, that it bled out from a stab wound.'

The implications of those words were obvious. Both Lizzy and Pansy recoiled with revolted expressions, hands covering their mouths. Ciel looked at Draco, eager to hear his opinion on the subject.

'My father was found with a knife in his hand,' he added, looking disgusted himself. Lizzy ran away, making Draco wince. Ciel kept very quiet because he wasn't sure he could school his expression appropriately at that moment, so he thought better to not attract attention.

Instead of talking, Draco stood up and stated pacing up and down the room, agitated. Ciel held his breath, willing him to finally express his opinion.

'I can't cope with that!' Draco exclaimed finally and Ciel let out a relieved breath. He didn't want to consider what he would have to do if his best friend approved of his father's actions. 'How could he do that? I know it must have been on the orders of the Dark Lord, but doesn't he have his own head? If he was ordered by the Dark Lord to kill me, would he have done that?' Draco stopped and looked at Ciel and Pansy. 'Or if he was ordered to kill one of you – would he follow the order blindly?' he added.

A cold shiver ran down Ciel's spine – he knew the answer to that question. He didn't want to think about the possible answer to Draco's previous question.

'The report said the children were tortured,' Draco raged on. Ciel shivered as the memories flooded him. He wasn't sure he was able to listen to any more details of the report. 'Had he tortured them? Was he the one that inflicted the broken bones or was he the one to- to-' the words didn't pass Draco's mouth anymore and Ciel was eternally grateful for each word was like a slap on his face.

'How can I look at other people and tell them that I'm proud of my father now?' Draco asked finally and fell to his knees. Pansy went to hug him wordlessly, while Ciel fought the nausea threatening to overwhelm him. He closed his eyes and when he opened them, Elizabeth was standing in the doorway to the girls' dormitories, looking at him with worry. He smiled weakly a fake smile and she replied in the same fashion.

Ciel wanted to say something comforting to his friend, but he couldn't force himself to lessen the guilt of his father.

'You can't,' Elizabeth finally said softly. 'Not with all honesty at least,' she added and her words seem to shake Draco deeply. She came closer to them. 'But you can make sure that you don't make his mistakes.'

'But… What was he thinking?'

'You'll never know. Maybe he forgot himself too much. Maybe he was threatened by the Dark Lord?'

'Do you think that would justify this?' Ciel asked sharply, unable to stop himself. Elizabeth looked at him and shook her head.

Closing his eyes, Ciel thanked the demon that he wouldn't be forced to kill his friends, that he was spared this one atrocity in his life. He was brought back to reality by the door to the dormitory opening abruptly.

He looked at his fellow first-year who stopped dead at the scene in front of him: Draco Malfoy on the floor, hugged by Pansy, who was openly crying by now. Elizabeth standing there with a pale face and equally shaken Ciel. The newcomer seemed unsure if he should address what he saw and then chose not to as he looked straight at Ciel.

'Professor Kruspe wants to talk with you,' he said with a bit of worry in his voice. 'I think he's not happy with your essay,' he added, making Ciel frown. A bad essay didn't seem so bad in the face of what they were just discussing, but Ciel assumed that it was just a cover so that nobody would suspect their meetings for what they really were.

'Thanks, James,' he told the other student and left the common room, his black cat in tow. It was a beautiful, late spring day and most of the students were out enjoying the sun, so he avoided any unpleasant run ins with them. Things became a bit better after Hermione obviously took matters in her hands, but many students preferred to believe that he was a monster.

He hesitated a moment before knocking on the door to the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom. He had been lucky with the other students, but this was a much more important discussion. When he finally knocked, an immediate "come in" was the answer and, without any more hesitation, he walked into the classroom.

Cain Kruspe was standing next to the window, looking out, not bothering to turn to his guest. Instead, he cast what Ciel assumed to be a wordless silencing spell on the room.

'You wanted to see me?' Ciel asked, deciding to skip the game of student-teacher entirely.

'Those Deatheaters that were found recently,' his professor started, turning to face him. 'Is there anything to the story that you would like to tell me?' Ciel looked away. He didn't really want to discuss anything concerning that matter, but he should have know that this particular person would make the link. Especially in face of what he just read in the diary.

'This is not something I would like to discuss,' he said finally in a tight voice and looked back at the cold and impassionate face of the other man.

'How did you get out?' came yet another question that Ciel never planned to answer.

'If I trust you now, can I trust you completely?' he asked instead of answering and there was much more to the question than a casual observer could have guessed.

'Your father was my friend,' was the only answer he got, but it spoke volumes.

'And you knew nothing of that affair?'

'Nothing. I have not met the Dark Lord once after the…' he trailed off and waved his left hand. Ciel wondered briefly if it was a painful procedure, but he wasn't willing to get distracted by that matter. 'I would have not allowed this to happen if I knew and if it was in my power to do anything.' Ciel nodded.

'I'm glad to hear that,' he said quietly. Now it was only to make sure that his teacher would stay loyal to his cause, rather than to Voldemort's…

'So how did you do that?' Kruspe asked, snapping Ciel's attention back to the reality. 'You somehow managed to kill twenty adults and I have not really gone too much into the reports of their death but they were rather physical. Nothing a kid like you could have done, no offence.'

'None taken,' Ciel said coldly. 'I got some unexpected help, but if I tell you now what it was I need to know that I can trust you unconditionally,' there was seriousness in his voice that seemed to surprise his teacher into silence for a moment.

'You can trust me. Unconditionally,' he said finally, renouncing his allegiance to the Dark Lord, who had killed his friend for such a trifle reason.

'Sebastian,' Ciel said commandingly and the cat became a butler, shocking Cain so badly that the man almost fell out of the window which was still behind him. In fact, he would have fallen out of the window, had the sulking Sebastian not caught him and steadied him on the correct side of the wall.

'My Lord, I don't think-' the demon started as he went to stand behind his master.

'It's not your thinking that I require now, Sebastian,' Ciel cut him off coldly and looked at the shocked teacher, who was looking at Sebastian with somewhat wide eyes.

'Sebastian killed them for me,' Ciel said. 'And he will kill anybody I ask him to,' he added with a hint of threat in his voice. 'Anybody who put their hands in what happened to me and my parents.'

'I see,' Kruspe said after a long while of heavy silence. 'And you will perish once your revenge is complete,' he added and Ciel had to commend him on correctly guessing what Sebastian was.

'This is a price I'm prepared to pay,' Ciel said calmly and the other man nodded.

'So much like your father,' he muttered and then turned to look Ciel in the eye. 'Well, Earl Phantomhive, you have my help, whatever it might be.' Satisfied, Ciel smiled a cold smile.

'I'm glad you say that,' he said and the teacher smirked – obviously aware that he would have been dead by now in any other case. 'For now I only need you to keep my secrets and keep an eye on Snape. Traitors are dangerous, whoever they have betrayed.'

'A wise thought. However, if I may – you should think about your safety once the school year is over. I do not know if the Dark Lord is after you still and I am not sure if I can find that out without raising any suspicions as to my intentions. However, if he still wants your death it might be wise to find ways to protect yourself and your family.'

'You included?' Ciel asked with sarcasm and a smirk twisted the face of his future uncle.

'Lady Elizabeth included,' he said. 'I can take care of myself.'


	15. Precautions

**Kuroshitsuji belongs to Yana Toboso, Harry Potter to JK Rowling.**

**This unlikely crossover idea, Cain Kruspe and the words are mine though so please don't take them.**

**Read and review!**

* * *

**Chapter 15: Precautions**

_ Dear grandfather,_

_ I think I'm now ready to tell you what happened that horrible night. I have reasons to believe that whoever attacked us was persuaded to do so by the Dark Lord, although I don't know what his reasons might have been. What they haven't foreseen was Tanaka – it was him that helped me to escape from the burning building. It is thanks to him that I haven't been murdered alongside my parents._

_ I'm not sure what happened afterwards. I think I lost consciousness due to the fumes, but when I woke up I a cottage, I don't know where. An old, Muggle couple took me in and everything seemed fine, but then I was kidnapped (would you imagine – from one danger to another! It was surely not my lucky year) and things went bad from then on. I lost my eye on that occasion and many unpleasant things followed._

_ When I finally managed to get free from all them, I had no idea where I was and where was home. It took me more than two months to finally find my way and then I found you back._

_ I'm writing this because I'm afraid the Dark Lord might carry a grudge against me and might want to hurt me or the people close to me. I ask you thus to please put the best possible security measures in time for my aunt's wedding._

_ Ciel_

He looked at the letter critically. It would have to do. The lies were necessary, because he wasn't going to let his grandfather know the truth, but he needed the man to take precautions. He knew his grandfather well enough to expect the man to increase security immediately, not only for the wedding planned in July.

With a sigh, he got up to go to the Owlery and send the letter before the Transfiguration class. He would rather not be late since McGonagall needed barely any excuse to give him a detention, he supposed in punishment for cursing one of her students.

'Sebastian.'

'Yes, my Lord?'

'Have you found anything that could serve as a protection for Elizabeth?' he asked the butler. He wouldn't even admit it to himself, but the possibility of her getting hurt frightened him more than it should.

'My Lord is very worried about that girl,' the butler noticed with a somewhat mocking tone.

'Of course I am. There is no reason why she should suffer for my father's or grandfather's mistakes,' he said harshly.

'My Lord thinks it was their mistake?'

'They underestimated their enemy,' he said simply. 'I will do no such thing and thus I order you to find a way to protect Elizabeth without fail.'

'Yes, my Lord.'

He left the dormitory and rushed to the Owlery, carefully avoiding the more crowded corridors. The year at school has done miracles to his fear of being touched, but he still didn't appreciate the crowd. Especially if it contained Gryffindors who would all but spit on him with contempt and "deatheater" on their lips. Somehow Hermione had least success in her own house.

He was hoping that the gossip about the wedding of his aunt and their teacher would take over the minds of the students and he'll be finally left alone. Already now there was loads of talking about the place and the ceremony and the guest list. Ciel had to yet see the guest list – he asked his grandfather to send it to him once it would be complete.

He posted his letter and, with visible dislike, made his way towards the Transfiguration classroom. It wasn't that he didn't like the subject as much as the teacher that disliked him and made it obvious on every occasion. He always made sure to arrive on time and that his homework was spotless.

})i({

Hermione sat next to Harry and Ron in the Great Hall. Recently their relations had been strained to say at least. Neither of the boys appreciated her point of view on Ciel Phantomhive and they didn't want to listen to her reasons. She, on the other hand, got annoyed at their close-mindedness and petty hate.

'Aren't you going to sit at the Slytherin table?' Ron asked, making Hermione's eyes tear up.

'I'm trying here, Ronald,' she said with a strained voice. 'I would really like to be able to talk with you normally again – without all this hate in your voice.'

'Try saying sorry for making me and Harry look like idiots?' Ron suggested.

'Making you look like idiots?' she repeated, feeling the irritation rise again.

'Yeah, by taking the side of that deatheater wannabe.'

'Ron, please – can we just drop that matter?' she pleaded. Had she known what the consequences would be, she would have thought twice before she spoke up in that matter.

'Let it go, Ron,' Harry said finally, before Ron managed to reply. 'It's been a long time ago, so let's just pretend that nothing like that happened. I, for one, am quite amazed how calm this year had been. I mean we haven't had any serious run ins with Snape for example.'

'Yeah, it seems like he's too busy with something else to really pay attention to us, not that I mind,' Ron agreed, eager for the change of topic. Hermione stayed quiet, sure that they didn't want to hear her opinion about the Potions teacher.

'Also Voldemort has been laying low,' Harry muttered, his voice betraying his feelings: he didn't like that at all. Hermione had to agree – not hearing anything didn't mean that nothing was happening, only that they didn't know anything.

})i({

Sirius looked at his friend incredulously, making Remus want to take back what he just said.

'I think I didn't understand what you just said,' Sirius said finally and Remus rolled his eyes in irritation.

'I don't see what it's such a shock for you. We have always been on speaking terms with Angie and I suppose this wedding will be something of a show of the wealth of the Durless family,' he said, forcing himself to keep calm. He had no idea about the Kruspe family though he supposed they must have been pure bloods or else there would be no wedding.

'You got an invitation to her wedding,' Sirius repeated for the third time.

'Yes, Sirius.'

'And you're going?'

'No, I'll probably stay here to make sure that you don't go and do something stupid.'

'There's no need, Remus. I'm over this silly jealousy, I thought you knew that,' Sirius said with a careless gesture. 'Please go and enjoy yourself on that Slytherin event.'

'Maybe you're forgetting, but Angie was in Ravenclaw at Hogwarts,' Remus pointed out.

'Yes, much to the despair of her family I imagine,' Sirius said with an unpleasant laugh. 'Surprisingly I don't remember where Rachel went,' he added, remembering Angelina's fragile little sister.

'Slytherin.'

'Ah, that's more like it. Well, then it will be you and Angie and a bunch of Slytherins.'

'I said I will not go,' Remus repeated. 'I have already sent her my answer,' he added, deciding to not mention that he also included an apology and some motivation. There were some things his hot-headed friend didn't need to know.

'Too bad, really. You would have told me if the cake was good. Do they write who's the caterer?' Sirius asked, taking the invitation from his friend's hands. He looked through it quickly. 'Nope.'

'Sirius. I will tie you to your bed if you give me one more reason to suspect you,' Remus said.

'No need to get kinky on me, friend,' Sirius joked humourlessly. 'It's just the love of my life getting married to some… some… guy.'

})i({

'I heard you got an invitation to the wedding of Cain,' a hissing voice said in a dark room. The only light came from a single candle and it was highlighting the shadows, more than lighting up the room.

'Every teacher got one, but I don't plan to show up there,' a raspy, cold voice replied with audible dislike.

'I don't think so. I think you will go there. You will be my representative on that delightful event,' the first voice hissed. 'I would have gone myself, but I think it would cause too much of a stir.'

'As you wish, my Lord.'


	16. The guest list

**Kuroshitsuji belongs to Yana Toboso, Harry Potter to JK Rowling.**

**This unlikely crossover idea, Cain Kruspe and the words are mine though so please don't take them.**

**Read and review!**

* * *

**Chapter 16: The guest list**

The school year finished without much excitement. Possibly the most fuss was around the matter of "will we actually manage to have the same Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher for two years in a row?" which seemed to have not happened for years now. From Draco, Ciel got to know the history of the previous four teachers.

In the face of the upcoming event, however, Ciel didn't waste too much thinking on the teacher history. Instead, he spent countless hours, together with Sebastian and sometimes Cain, to make sure that the manor was protected in every possible way. The advantage of having Cain's help was that the man knew about the security measures that Duke Durless has taken as well.

Together, they have gone through the whole guests list three times, putting the guests in groups and assigning how dangerous they might be and what danger might befall them. On the most dangerous list there was only one name: Snape.

'I still don't know why he accepted invitation,' Ciel said, watching his future uncle get dressed for the ceremony. Cain looked at him in the mirror.

'He might have not had a choice,' he said, then looked at his own reflection.

'For a wizard you're quite good with Muggle clothing,' Ciel commented. Because the Durless were Muggle nobility, the photos from the marriage ceremony would be available for Muggle newspapers and so all the guests were asked to dress appropriately. The following party would be described as "private" for the Muggle media, so that the Duke could really show off. Cain smiled.

'Don't forget that until a year ago I was mainly dealing with Muggles,' he pointed out as he put on his suit.

'Right. Will somebody take over your duties there, or will you leave?'

'I don't know. I have never been contacted directly by the Dark Lord. Your father was handling that part.'

'Will you still teach next year?' he asked, only getting a wide grin as an answer.

'Where is Sebastian?'

'He's out patrolling the grounds. He'll be part of the Muggle-style protection,' Ciel replied, looking outside the window. 'He can himself take care of anybody who'll physically try to invade.'

'Very useful to have something like him.'

'In a way, yes,' Ciel said with a sigh. 'Have we missed anything?'

'I don't think so. The Aurors have arrived half an hour ago, the guests should be mostly here and they've all been checked for any Muggle contraptions, their wands screened.'

'They must think my grandfather is paranoid,' Ciel muttered. At least the guests didn't know that they all went through a metal detector. There was, of course a spell to do the same, but the Muggle way was much more discrete.

'Just cautious. After what happened to your parents, I think everybody would be shocked if he wasn't so cautious,' Cain said. He'd learnt some time ago that Ciel wasn't very bothered by the mention of that day anymore. Or at least he didn't show that.

'Snape has arrived,' Ciel noticed, looking outside the window again.

'Delightful,' Cain muttered, one more time checking his looks in the mirror.

'You're so vain,' Ciel complained, earning a laugh.

'Your wedding is one day when you want to look good, Ciel,' he said.

'Well then you probably should never get married,' said a voice they haven't expected to disturb their conversation. They both turned around to see Sirius Black, wand pointed at Cain.

'Well, well. Mr. Black,' the latter said calmly. He didn't have his wand on him – it was considered impolite to carry a wand for one's wedding.

'Before you do anything, Black,' Ciel stood between the two men, confident that no follower of Dumbledore would kill a child. 'Any offensive spell cast within twenty meters from either of us will trigger an alarm.'

'Well then, get out of my way, you fiendish spawn,' Black hissed, putting his wand away and advancing with a determined expression. When Ciel refused to move, he shoved the boy away forcefully and only in the last moment, Cain managed to cast a spell to break Ciel's landing on the unforgiving wall.

But that meant that he had to turn away from Black, who took that opportunity to punch him hard in the stomach.

With a gasp, Cain doubled up only to earn a knee in his face, breaking his nose.

'You think you're so good, don't you?' Sirius Black sneered with contempt as the other one straightened up, wiping the blood off his face with the sleeve of the precious, wedding suit.

'Well, I got what you wanted, so I suppose I'm pretty good,' he replied with a calm tone. 'Is this about the invitation?' he mocked. 'You could have written to us and we'd of course let you participate in this lovely event.'

With a growl, Sirius charged, but this time Cain was prepared – in the last moment, he twisted away and grabbed the clothes of Sirius, pushing him into the wall with all his strength.

Ciel winced at the sound of the cracking bone. Nose for nose, or what was that? Carefully, he got up and pressed himself close to the wall, to not be in the way when Cain threw Sirius across the room and onto the floor.

'Get up,' Cain ordered, walking closer to his opponent. Sirius looked like he was struggling. 'Is that all you can take?'

'You bastard,' Sirius wheezed and shifted, so that he could kick Cain in the back of his knees, making him fall. Loosing no time, he grabbed the tie the other man was wearing and tightened it in a swift, cruel move.

'I'm going to kill you now,' he promised as Cain tried to grab the fabric that was choking him. Sirius prepared to throw a punch in his face, but he managed to grab the offending fist and twist the arm such that Sirius was forced to let go of the tie.

Taking a deep breath, Cain twisted the arm even further and a crack of dislocated shoulder echoed.

Sirius howled in pain, blindly grabbing around and scratching to blood, when his fingers met flesh.

With a hiss of pain, Cain let go of his opponent and, still breathing rather deeply, threw a kick at the laying man, sending him flying up a couple of centimetres, to the sound of cracking ribs.

'Who will kill whom now?' he asked with cold fury, rubbing his bleeding arm, where Sirius' nails left deep scratches.

Sirius was crumbled on the floor, breathing loudly and painfully. Another kick send him crashing against the wall. Using it as help, he slowly got up.

With the last of his strength, he managed to aim a kick between Cain's legs, which the latter took with a yelp of pain. Taking advantage, Sirius aimed an elbow in the man's back, but the broken ribs didn't allow his punch its full power and Cain managed to stumble away without loosing his balance completely.

Face twisted in a furious and painful expression, Cain pinned Sirius against the wall, choking him with his bare hands.

Fighting for air, Sirius clawed at the face of his opponent, until a knee connected to his crotch in an "eye for eye" kick.

He would have screamed if he had enough air in his lungs, but the attack just increased his struggling and he managed to grab Cain's short hair and pulled his head away in what would have been enough force to break the man's neck if not for the fingers cutting of his oxygen supply for a while now.

In reply, Cain tightened his hold on Sirius' neck even more.

'Stop!' Ciel shouted suddenly and Cain was so surprised to remember that the boy was in the room still, that he actually let go of Sirius, who slid down the wall lifelessly. Panting, he looked at Ciel, his face and clothes bloodied, his nose all wrong.

'If you kill him, they'll kick you out of Hogwarts,' Ciel said, hoping that Sirius was out cold. 'I need your help in Hogwarts.' No later than he said it, the door opened and Elizabeth looked in with a "there you are" dying on her lips when she saw the state Cain was in and the absolute mess in the room.

She screamed instead and Angelina Durless came running, with a black cat in tow.

'What-' she trailed off when she saw Sirius Black, looking possibly even worse than her husband. Cain was still panting from the fight and he went to take a seat, that wasn't upturned in the fight.

'I might have destroyed my suit,' he breathed with a small smirk.

'You idiot!' Angelina scolded him, nevertheless running to check for any serious injuries. 'You should have just called and security would come and take care of that…'

'If you'll call him "idiot" as well, I'll be a bit hurt,' Cain said with a trace of humour and then yelled when she set his nose the Muggle way.

'Just look at you!' she fussed. She pulled on his sleeves to see the obvious cuts that were bleeding underneath. 'Elizabeth, go and get some water and-'

'That will not be necessary, Elizabeth,' Cain said firmly, his right hand clasped over Angelina's, stopping her from pulling up his left sleeve. They shared a long look, after which Angelina withdrew her hand and asked Elizabeth and Ciel to leave.

Knowing better than to argue with his aunt, Ciel pulled Elizabeth out of the room and told her to keep quiet about what she saw, that it was his aunt and future uncle who would decide what to do about Sirius Black and that he himself was looking forward to see what it would be.

})i({

'I only need a couple of spells,' Cain said calmly. 'And possibly a strengthening potion,' he added.

'Are you sure? We can-'

'Give that bastard satisfaction for calling off the wedding? Oh no, my dear, we'll have our wedding and we'll make him watch it,' he said, an evil smile twisting his otherwise still bloodied and pained face. The effect was rather frightening, even for Angelina.

'I'm not sure if that's a good idea,' she said quietly, moving away slightly.

'Could you please bring me my wand?' he asked instead of answering her worries. 'I'll explain everything to you when you're back,' he added and she went out wordlessly.

Getting up with a groan, he looked at the body on the floor with contempt. He thought about kicking him some more, but it wasn't very brave to beat up an opponent who was already unconscious.

Slowly, he pulled up his left sleeve and healed the scratches there. It was a very primitive spell that would probably leave some scars, but it had to do for the moment.


	17. The wedding

**Kuroshitsuji belongs to Yana Toboso, Harry Potter to JK Rowling.**

**This unlikely crossover idea, Cain Kruspe and the words are mine though so please don't take them.**

**Read and review!**

* * *

**Epilogue: The wedding**

In a bit more than fifteen minutes, Cain Kruspe was looking as though nothing had happened. His suit was magically fixed and all his other scratches and the broken nose healed in a much more professional way, since Angelina was a trained healer. The strengthening potion gave him enough strength to walk as though nothing was hurting.

With his wand, he created bounds which wrapped themselves around the unconscious form of Sirius Black, forcing the body into a rather uncomfortable looking position. Then Angelina, deciding for the moment to do as he wished, used a spell to bring Sirius back to conscious world.

'Welcome to our wedding. We're glad you could make it,' Cain said, irony dripping from every word. Sirius could only growl, because a thick stripe of leather was making it impossible to speak.

'You're just egging him on,' Angelina whispered, scared to see so much hate in the eyes of her previous fiancé.

'Oh yes, I am,' Cain replied with some sadistic joy in his cold voice. 'He deserves it also,' he added before turning back to his prisoner. 'You see, I decided to take pity on you and let you participate in our wedding,' he said in mock-friendly voice. 'You'll not be able to move of course, nor to speak, but you'll watch and listen and enjoy. And if you try to change into a dog, the collar you wear now will choke you to death.'

'My father-' Angelina started.

'Will not see him. Nobody will see him because we'll cast some appropriate spells, so unless somebody will know that he's there, nobody will register his presence.'

Sirius growled, but Cain was already casting his spell. He added a silencing spell to make sure that the man's growling would not disturb the ceremony and he levitated the man up and out of the room, where Ciel and Elizabeth were standing, waiting.

The two kids looked up at them, Elizabeth confused and Ciel delighted.

'Please take my wand away,' Cain said, handing Ciel the wand and Angelina mimicked him and went to wait with her father, while Cain levitated Sirius into the church, leaving him in the back but with a perfect view on the ceremony.

Then he went to wait in front of the altar, with a clueless priest. Because of the Durless nobility, the ceremony would be purely Muggle, something that, while not common, was accepted by the wizarding community as a legal marriage.

The guests started to fill in the church, some coming and congratulating him, some going straight to sit. Some of his friends from Germany have also arrived, many of them being Muggles and clueless about the real nature of their friend.

All of Angelina's family, which included most of the British, pure blood families, was there as well.

Elizabeth and Ciel took their seats in the front row, the latter sending a glance towards where Sirius was howling soundlessly in rage. Draco and Astoria were sitting just behind them, next to Draco's mother who, for the first time since the death of her husband, was not wearing black but dark, dark blue.

Snape took a place in the back of the church, right next to his mortal enemy whom his eyes didn't really register even as he stared right at him.

Albus Dumbledore and Minerva McGonagall came as the representatives of the teachers, forced smiles on their faces although each for a different reason.

Finally, the music started and his bride walked in, escorted by her father and even he, the cold and cynical being, had to admit that her beauty was breathtaking.

Seeing his expression, she smiled making him smile back and for everybody around it seemed like they were deeply in love.

They weren't. The marriage was arranged by her father, but maybe, with time, they would fall in love.

He could imagine that possibility, especially when she was walking towards him, the exquisite, blood-red dress doing a great job in highlighting her perfect body, strands of her hair caressing the pale skin of her neck.

Yup, definitely not the worst deal in his life.

})i({

Sirius Black always thought he wasn't a very bad man, but obviously he was wrong, since he was punished in the worst way possible.

He had always loved Angelina Durless. Ever since, when he was fourteen and she twelve, it was announced that they were engaged, to be married when they are of age. He remembered that day, as though it was yesterday – first shock and anger, then that funny tingling in his stomach, when she smiled at him reassuringly, telling him that he could have landed a worse girl. She was, of course, expecting such a marriage, being from the family she was, her sister engaged the year before to another man, older by two years than Sirius himself.

He got to know her better, happy that she wasn't in Slytherin, like all of her family before her and her sister after her. He learnt to love her and he was waiting with longing till the day when she would be his to kiss and adore. He was almost there, when his parents told him that he was expected, by them all, to take the Dark Mark before the wedding.

Torn by conflicting desires, he found refuge at the house of his best friend, who later convinced him that there was no real choice. That he could do only one thing.

And so he did, his heart breaking.

Never, not in his worst nightmares, did he think that he would have to witness the wedding of the love of his life and that he wouldn't be the groom.

Yet there he was, bound in the most humiliating way, unable to tear his eyes away from the beautiful woman standing by the altar. Even as the priest wrapped the hand of hers together with the hand of the other man, he watched. Even when she spoke the words of the promise of eternal love and faithfulness, he listened. Even when the other man kissed her, touching the lips that were his only, meant for him forever. He watched and, for the first time in very long, Sirius Black cried.

})i({

Drunk on the unexpected happiness, Angelina Kruspe laughed when she and her newly-wed husband left the church to be showered with rice and pennies. The man next to her smiled at her and she forgot everything about the blood and fight and all the problems.

She was certainly looking forward to the life of a married woman.

* * *

**The End**

**Thank you all for reading. I hope you enjoyed the story as much as I enjoyed writing it! And remember that reviews are love ;)**

**Good and bad news – you decide which one is which. First: this is the end of the story, second: I have a sequel written up and will start posting it next month! So if you're up for more look out for "Harry Potter and the chess king".**


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